Heaven on Fire
by La Vik
Summary: Not everyone deserves a second chance. Not everyone who deserves them get one. John walks the line between these two, but can he exorcise his inner demons before being defeated by an Angel for the one he loves? PyroOCAngel
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Standard procedure…I only own Taryn, my OC, which is hardly a big accomplishment. I'd much rather own Aaron Stanford and Ben Foster, but oh well. You can't win 'em all.

This first chapter takes place right at the beginning of X2, just after Pyro's skirmish at the museum.

* * *

John Allerdyce was not always the most pleasant young man, especially when he was in a bad mood. After a certain incident at the Museum of Natural History and the long, tedious lecture that followed, he was certainly not in the mood for company. He had stormed up to his room and locked the door – not exactly a problem, considering that all of his past roommates had asked to be moved to a different room.

However, he wouldn't be left alone for long. After noticing a continuous clicking sound and finally the squeal of a hinge, a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and doe-like brown eyes came into the room. John sighed. He had expected Jean to come in to lecture him again, or worse yet – Storm. He was relieved to see the small girl, Taryn Lawson…who also happened to be his girlfriend of over a year.

"Hey," she said quietly. "I brought you some brownies." She placed the plate on the nightstand and sat next to him on the bed. He glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Brownies?" he said questioningly.

"Yeah," Taryn shrugged. "It was my turn to make dinner tonight, so I saved you a few."

"I'm guessing you heard about what happened at the museum while you were off playing big sister to Jubes?" he said. Jubilee practically hero-worshipped Taryn, and insisted on them hanging out. Appreciative of the attention, Taryn almost always obliged. "Well?" John pressed after a few moments of silence. He looked confused upon seeing his girlfriend trying to cover up a smile.

"I just got a ten minute lecture for laughing my ass off," she said, rolling her eyes. "Apparently, apes on fire aren't funny."

That did it. John smiled and laughed along with her, then kissed her soundly on the lips. "You're the most amazing girlfriend ever. Period." He laughed. He relished the fact that she blushed profusely at the comment, and even more that she tried to play it off. He reached over and swallowed one of the brownies in two bites. "These are even better than usual," he said. "But you know what they'd be better with…" He jerked his eyebrows suggestively.

"John!" Taryn said, swatting playfully at his shoulder and pushing him onto the other side of the bed.

"Hey! I was talking about ice cream," John shrugged innocently. "Honestly, Taryn, get your mind out of the gutter."

Taryn rolled her eyes and got up, following him downstairs to the kitchen, which was conveniently empty since everyone had gone to bed. "You know, I think this is the only time it's ever quiet down here," she laughed, standing in the doorway and looking around.

John slouched down into one of the armchairs in the next room, and Taryn sat on the cushioned arm.

"C'mere," he laughed, pulling her onto his lap and kissing her once again, pouring out his appreciation for the fact that at least she, if no one else, was on his side. Taryn very willingly obliged, nestling closer to him until they both practically jumped out of their skin upon hearing someone clearing their throat.

"Logan!" Taryn said, jumping out of John's lap and straightening up, her brown eyes round and exuding an aura of extreme innocence. John knew, upon seeing that look on her face, that there wouldn't be trouble. "We were just…uh…" She seemed to be lost for words, so John leapt to her aid.

"Looking for –"

"Some loose change –"

"In the couch –"

"Under the cushions. Yeah."

Logan just rolled his eyes. "Look, kids," he said in exasperation, "You've got bedrooms for a reason." Taryn gave a small snort, trying to hold back a laugh, and John just smirked, just before Logan realized what he had just said. "I _meant _for sleeping." He said sternly, though his demeanor had now considerably softened. "Just keep quiet down here." With that, he turned around and left, mumbling about teenagers and hormones.

John and Taryn sat back down on the couch, and John suddenly huffed in frustration. "All those crap-faces hate us being together, you know." He stated.

"John—"

"It's true!" John snapped. "They hate that they gold-star, blue-ribbon, straight-A miracle child is throwing it all away for the resident screw-up. They're stupid." Taryn averted her gaze guiltily. John had always seemed to have a problem with the fact that despite her quiet nature, she always managed, however unintentionally, to make a big deal of herself in school. But John's tirade wasn't quite over. "And they keep us locked up in a little plastic _bubble_. We're not fucking sick—"

Taryn winced. John always tended to veer towards obscenities when he was mad. "Well, maybe it's _safer_—"

"Who gives a damn about _safe_?" John snapped back. Taryn jumped slightly, tongue-in-cheek, and John sighed deeply, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Taryn, I'm sorry. I just…sometimes I wanna get out of here so badly."

"Then why don't you?" she asked honestly, without any trace of resentment or accusation. John looked at her, and his expression finally softened again.

"Well, you're here…" he said. "I'm not gonna just get up and leave if you're still here, right?"

But if only he had known how wrong he would be.

* * *

Well, there's chapter one. Basically just a taster, bland & boring. The good stuff happens later, I promise.


	2. Chapter 2

Four months.

Four months ago, Taryn's world had practically exploded. One night, she was lying in bed, and suddenly, the school was being broken into, and she was running for her life, until she was caught and brought to Alkali Lake.

She had felt so relieved when they got her out, but when both Jean and John were lost to the X-Men, she had forgotten why. Jean had been a role model to the umpteenth degree to Taryn, though she wouldn't admit it very often. She had been at the Institute for so long, it seemed wrong for Jean not to be there. And John…

There were times when Taryn found it ironic that not long ago, he said he wouldn't leave, just because she was there. And yet in the blink of an eye, he had left with the enemy. Taryn was fairly out of the loop with what she and John had always referred to as "X-Man affairs," but she still knew enough. John had left with Magneto and gone to the other side. He had betrayed them all, her especially.

For one of the first times in a long time, Taryn had managed to fall asleep without having a horrible fit of tossing and turning and forcing things to juggle themselves through the air – having control of gravity made it difficult to let loose. She was nestled under her bedcovers and had finally gotten comfortable when she heard her window squeal open and felt somebody rousing her awake. She rolled over and had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

"John?" she said in hushed tones, squinting at him. When her eyes had focused enough to ensure that it really was him, she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, silently quite glad that her roommate, Rogue, was nowhere nearby at the moment. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again—"

"Sh…" he said, placing a finger to her lips, "I missed you too. We don't have much time. Pack up and come with me."

"Come with you?" she said, stepping back. "Where?"

"To the Brotherhood." John said hurriedly, but realized he'd need more of an explanation when he heard her gasp. "Oh, don't look at me like that. Just come with me, please?"

"Why?" Taryn said, looking at him as though he had just slapped her – and he might as well have.

"Because if you don't we'll have to destroy you with the rest of them." He stated regretfully. "There's a war coming and I want you to be on the right side."

"I _am _on the right side." She said, stepping back from him. "John, you don't need to do this. You can come back, and things can be like how they were –"

"Dammit, Taryn, I can't just come back, and it's _not _gonna be okay!" he said through gritted teeth. "The world doesn't work like that—"

"My mom," she interrupted in a low, threatening voice, "found out I was a mutant and tried to drown me when I was two fucking years old, so don't _talk _to me like I've never been through anything. I think I know better than you do what people are capable of. I've lived here for sixteen years, John, I don't _know _anyplace else but here."

"We both know what you can do," he said, taking her hand and gazing almost pleadingly into her eyes, which were now darker and more pensive than he had ever seen them before. "You can do so much with your powers, and they're making you hold them back here. That's not fucking _living_. You're a prisoner here, and you want to be free –"

"Not like _that. _Not with _him_," Taryn said. She took her hand away from his and shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"If you don't come now, you may never have the chance to change your mind," he said desperately, yet even then already realizing that this was going nowhere very quickly.

"Then I won't change it," Taryn shrugged.

"I…" John took a deep heaving breath and tried again, "I don't want to fight you."

"Well, I didn't want to _lose _you," Taryn said, blinking back a wave of emotion that was threatening to cascade down her face and betray the façade she was trying to portray. "But some things just can't be helped."

John saw her eyes glistening in the moonlight and couldn't help himself. He had to be a _man_ now, and men didn't cry, so he did all that he could to stop himself. He kissed her, fueled by a furious, desperate passion, Funny how everything gets screwed up, he thought, and here I was sure I was gonna be with her forever.

John knew that he would never hold her like this again, and it only made him pull her closer, clutching her body closely to his. Reluctantly, she turned her head away and rested it on his shoulder.

"I wasn't planning on having to say goodbye to you tonight," he admitted. She stepped away and looked at him.

"You're acting like it wasn't your _choice_." Taryn said darkly.

"Taryn—"

"Better scram before somebody finds out you're here, _Pyro._" She said, crossing her arms resolutely.

"I don't think I'm in any rush—" he began, but he was cut off by Taryn stepping to the intercom on the wall next to her bed and placing her hand near the button.

"You need to _leave_." She stated. He looked at her one last time and left her room the way he came.

Once she was sure that he was gone, Taryn slouched onto her bed and began sobbing desperately into her hands, not noticing someone else enter her room until he felt a hand on her shoulder, patting her back consolingly. She looked up to find herself staring into the face of Professor Xavier. She took a deep breath and forced herself to stop crying before he spoke to her.

"You did the right thing," he said, speaking directly to her blank, tear-stained face. "You couldn't have made him stay, not for all the love in the world, if he was bent on leaving. I'm proud of you."

"Why would I have left?" she asked as the Professor began to leave. He stopped and turned his head to look at her.

"The thing people do when they are in love seldom make a great deal of sense," he said simply. "If you'd left with him, I wouldn't have held it against you." With that, he began to wheel out of her room again before she called out. He turned to look at her one more time

"He's really gone, isn't he?" she said sadly. "He's not bad – not _evil, _I mean. I know he isn't."

The next morning, Taryn got up early and ran downstairs to the Danger Room for a make-up training session with Logan for the ones she had missed while moping around the past few months. Today, however, they had not set up a computer simulation, and instead had only set up a few dummies to knock around. Taryn threw herself furiously at them and began beating them to within seconds of collapsing as Logan spoke to her.

"You didn't need to be on time today," he said, "Long night for you, if Chuck tells me right. You sure you're okay?"

"Never better," she said through gritted teeth and she landed a kick that effectively decapitated one of the training dummies. "And would it really _matter _if I wasn't?" she added sarcastically.

"Yes." Logan said simply. Taryn rolled her eyes.

"If John's going to walk out on everybody, then _fuck _him." She growled commencing a barrage on another training dummy.

"You know, some people need to get away before they realize what they had in the first place," Logan said awkwardly. Taryn glanced at him, rolled her eyes, and put up her fists.

"These dummies are getting boring, let's go," she smirked. Suddenly, one of the computer servers gave a long bang and crashed to the floor with a metallic clatter. Taryn winced. She hadn't meant to get so out of control…

"We're calling it a day," Logan said, pushing down her fists with his hands. "You're too wound up, kid. If you don't cool off, you'll probably end up killing yourself."

"Yippee," she muttered under her breath, forgetting that Logan could hear her quite well.

"You should be sleeping or something. You've never gone haywire like that before."

Taryn smirked and rolled her eyes. "You call that _haywire_?" she laughed bitterly, gesturing towards the exploded equipment. "You're underestimating me, _Wombat_."

"Wolverine." He corrected through gritted teeth.

"Whatever," she laughed, rolling her eyes and leaving the room. She sulked to the elevator, then back up to the main hallway where Jubilee had obviously been waiting.

"Hey," she said enthusiastically, but paused when she saw the look on Taryn's face. "You don't look so hot right now," she said hesitantly.

"Well, I just pretty much blew up the Danger Room," she laughed bitterly in reply. "The Professor's gonna show up and chew me out for it any minute now, just wait."

"You've been really _pissy _nowadays," Jubilee pointed out as they started walking down the hallway towards the main foyer. "Ever since John went AWOL on us. Are you okay?"

"Of course I am," Taryn scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. "Why would I still be crying over some psychotic ex-boyfriend?"

"A psychotic ex-boyfriend that you still happen to be crazy for," Jubilee said with a shrug. Taryn glanced at her uncomfortably, and then looked away, shaking her head. "Listen, Tay," Jubilee continued. "You did what you could, and it's not your fault he left. You're probably the only reason he stuck around so long anyway."

"You're smart for a kid," Taryn laughed. It amused her to no end, getting advice from a girl three years her junior. By now, the two had made it to the living room, which was empty, since all the others had gone outside to enjoy the good weather while it lasted. They plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, which was set to the news. "He's gonna get in trouble," Taryn said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"I can just tell," Taryn sighed, massaging her temple slightly. "Things are gonna go wrong, I—" She looked up as Jubilee grabbed the remote to change the channel and snatched it out of her hand. "Hold on, don't flip it," she said, tossing the remote aside and staring intently at the screen. The whole thing flipped by quite quickly for Taryn, she could only focus enough to catch the CEO of Worthington Enterprises standing at the door way of a huge building on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco – the place she had supposedly been born. The last words of his speech, however, needed no clarification.

_"I proudly present to you the answer to mutation. Finally, we have a cure."_

"What the hell?" Taryn cursed, standing up. "A _cure_." She scoffed. "This is ridiculous—"

"Isn't it, I dunno…" Jubilee struggled, "Couldn't it be a good thing? We could be normal—"

"I've never _been _normal," Taryn said, shaking her head, "And I for one can't _live _normal."

"Well, some of us could," Jubilee sighed.

Taryn looked at her remorsefully. "May_be_." She said placidly. "But do you think they're going to settle for _some _of us?"

Jubilee opened her mouth to answer when Bobby Drake, also called Iceman, walked into the room. He and Taryn nodded slightly in greeting, a normal thing for the both of them. They had never been too close, considering that their friendship was a very competitive one.

"The Professor wants to talk to you," he said. Taryn got up, smiling slightly.

"Oh, _joy_." She said, rolling her shoulders. "I'm in for it this time." She took her good sweet time heading down to his office. When he arrived there, he noticed nearly everyone filing out of the room. The first person she noticed was Dr. Hank McCoy, whom she remember vaguely from his days at the school. He glanced at her, smiled, and nodded politely, a gesture which she returned. The last ones out were Storm and Rogue, the latter of whom looked deeply disturbed. Once Taryn was sure they had all left, she stepped into the room and sat in the chair across from Professor Xavier. "Before I get in trouble—"

"You already _are _in trouble he said." Taryn looked at him in surprise. "Not from me. From yourself. I understand that you want to be in a position where you can do what you want –"

"If it's all the same to you," Taryn interrupted through gritted teeth, "I'd appreciate it if I could keep my thoughts to _myself _right now."

"Taryn." He said firmly, almost fatherly. "I heard the same news as you did –"

"Then why aren't you doing anything?" Taryn said, standing up furiously. "You and your X-Men and your fancy uniforms –" She paused. She had always been bitter at the thought of not being _cut out _for the X-men, but had never expressed it. She changed tracks quickly and continued without a hitch. "Don't tell me you're going to let them do it. If I were one of _you_, I sure as hell wouldn't."

"The situation is delicate," he replied, gesturing for her to sit down. She reluctantly obliged, crossing her arms sullenly in the chair. "If we're not careful, the conflict may escalate into –"

"War, Professor?" she cut in again. "If they treat us like lab rats and they're showing no signs of stopping, I don't see how it can be avoided."

"No one's forcing anyone to _take _the cure." The professor pointed out.

"For how long?" she said quietly. "I can't stay here, not if no one's going to do anything."

"You can't take the middle ground forever," he said as Taryn began walking towards the door. "If things go as you say they will, then you'll need to choose a side. Think of that." Taryn paused, took a ragged breath, then continued walking out the door.

Once out of the Professor's corridors, she broke into a run towards her room, where she began throwing things furiously into a duffel bag. Unfortunately, it was at this very inopportune moment that she was joined by Rogue.

"What are you doing?" she asked, standing next to Taryn. She zipped her bag shut and looked up. "Are you looking for John?"

"Who's _John_?" Taryn asked bitterly. "I'll see ya when I see ya, I guess." And with that, she left the room. Rogue looked out the window to see Taryn walking out, even in the midst of everyone watching, striding resolutely out of the main gates and out into the distance.

* * *

Flowing right into the beginning of X3. Let me just warn you now that there are gonna be a LOT of spoilers in the chapters after this.

In other news, the story's moving along quite nicely.


	3. Chapter 3

Taryn Lawson was smart, capable, independent…

...and terribly lost.

She hadn't left the Institute in all her years there, except on field trips or short outings with the other students. She'd never been out on her own, and now she was paying rather dearly for it.

She'd run away from the school two days ago, maybe three. Her head was too conflicted to care right now. All she knew was that she had just entered a town by the name of Annandale-on-Hudson – and she only knew that because she had seen a street sign.

"This is _great_." She muttered with an overdramatic sigh, sitting down on a curb and leaning back on her beaten up blue duffel bag. "I'm gonna be stuck on the streets _forever_. What a life! I—"

Her soliloquy was interrupted by the sound of jet engines overhead. She looked up, but couldn't see anything except for the sky. She rubbed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. Maybe she was just a bit too dizzy from not having had proper food or sleep for days. She felt as if she were spinning, floating…

She _was _floating.

Suddenly, she stared around as she began shooting upwards, waving her hands futilely trying to pull herself down – she hated heights so terribly, which was so ironic, since as a gravitokinetic her powers gave her the ability to float at will…which she would never willingly do. Surely her powers had just had a quick _glitch_. Gravity was a tricky thing. She shut her eyes and kept kicking, only to find that her foot thudded against a solid surface. She lifted her eyelids hesitantly and looked around, gaping.

She was in the jet, and Professor Xavier was looking at her – merely looking – with the oddest expression on his face. Taryn shifted uncomfortably, but couldn't bring herself to say anything to him.

"Well, I guess this little wild goose chase you sent us on is over," Storm sighed disapprovingly as she continued flying the jet, though it was slowing down now considerably.

"You came out here just to come after me?" she asked.

"You're not _that _special, kid." Logan chuckled sarcastically. "We have some other business to take care of out here." Taryn averted her gaze and sighed. Suddenly, she jarred as she felt the plane starting to land. Not being in a seat at the time, she felt herself being tossed about until she lifted herself up, making herself float awkwardly in the air until the plane had landed.

"Stay here," the Professor said as the three of them filed out the plane, which had landed in an empty field right near a neat block of houses. "We're engaging in some very delicate business, and you'd be safer here. It would be unnecessary for you to be harmed…"

"Okay." Taryn replied as the door shut in front of her. Once she was sure they had gone, she rolled her eyes and ran to control panel of the jet, pressing buttons until the hatch opened once again. "Stay here? _Right…_" she muttered as she ran off of the jet and in the direction that the other three had gone.

From far away, she could already see where they had gone to. Storm and Logan stood in front of the doorway to house with the mailbox marked **Grey**, along with two others – a tall, exotic woman with markings emblazoned across her face, and a large monster of a man with a helmet clunked tightly upon his head. Placing herself precariously behind a lightpole, she watched – apparently, this was not a _peaceful _mission.

Taryn had never actually _seen _real fighting before. She'd seen virtual images in the Danger Room, and she'd seen her classmates skirmish with one another, but never _this_. She watched, absolutely dumbfounded, as they began assaulting one another so horribly – and suddenly, the house itself began rising from the ground. She watched as it shakily climbed higher and higher.

"Something's not right…" she muttered, clambering out from her hiding place and running over the house. Clenching her eyes shut, she kicked off from the ground and threw herself up through the front window, landing rather roughly behind a sofa.

The house was flying apart and all she could do was focus her powers on holding everything down, otherwise she could _never _get to the bottom of the situation. Struggling against the gravitational pull she herself had created, she began crawling towards the room that was the source of the most clamor. She couldn't let go of the gravitational field, for fear of the house rocketing upwards, where her powers would not be strong enough to do even as little as she was doing now. She felt a strange force whipping against her face, stinging her eyes and straining her skin. Clinging to a loose floorboard until her knuckles turned white, she managed to raise her head.

"Jean.." she muttered, seeing the woman she had long thought dead alone in a room with Professor Xavier, who was floating stiffly in the air, eyes locked with Jean's. Neither of them looked at Taryn, but she suddenly felt a sharp, white-hot pain in her head as Jean's voice echoed loudly in her ears, and hers alone. She wanted desperately to clutch her head as it felt it was being ripped open

_"You're biting off more than you can chew here…"_ the voice said.

"Professor…" Taryn moaned pitifully, feeling herself slowly weakening, her hold on her surrounding slipping. Suddenly, with an odd indescribably sound, the Professor disappeared into oblivion, and the massive upward force stopped, sending Taryn hurtling to the ground while Jean strode away, paying no heed to her. The house, too, returned to the ground, which threw Taryn even further. She staggered to her feet, just as Logan and Storm ran into the room as well. She watched silently as Logan, the one person she saw as invulnerable, fell to his knees with a cry of anguish, and Storm fell next to him, weeping uncontrollably.

_What happened?_ Taryn thought, her head still clouded from the pure strain of it all. And then it hit her…the Professor was gone.

Taryn let out a terrible, shrill scream, then fell onto the floor in a dead faint. Surprised, Logan and Storm looked at her and walked cautiously to her limp form, their faces still wrenched in pain.

"I can't believe she had to see all this…" Storm said quietly. She reached out to stroke the younger girl's hair, but paused and looked at Logan, who was trying desperately to compose himself as his entire body shook with heaving, sobbing breaths. "You don't think she…she was the one trying to control the house? She held it down?"

"May_be_," Logan nodded. "It was too much for the kid. _Jean _was too much for the kid." Of course Taryn was no match for her…her puny strength was nothing compared to Jean's. But Logan stared strangely at the girl with a strange but well-earned respect.

He picked her up, and brought her back with them to the jet. The flight back to the school was silent – their greatest teacher, the greatest weapon they'd ever possessed, was lost to them forever.

* * *

Taryn had sat in her room for three days, just sat. She couldn't even bear to come to the Professor's funeral, instead watching from the window. She hadn't eaten, slept…Her once joyous, sly face was emaciated and blank.

She refused to speak to anyone who entered the room, and merely glared if someone came close to her.

This morning, however, Logan stood in the doorway and withstood her stony, hateful countenance.

"You okay, kid?" he asked. For an instant, she just stared at him, not angrily or hatefully, just questioningly.

"Oh, yeah..." she said in a voice raspy due to days of disuse. "My whole world is in _pieces, _and I'm just peachy."

"You're not the only one—"

"He was as close to a father as I ever _got_," Taryn said desperately. "He found me in some general hospital, just about to die after they fished me out of the Bay. He's the only reason I'm _here_…" she sobbed. "I – I know this school. It's the only place I've _ever _known. And now I have to leave for good—"

"Leave?" Logan asked, walking towards her bed and staring at her intensely.

"What reason is there for me to stay now?" she said dismally, wiping her face furiously. Her eyes were now red and swollen, her face looking utterly unreal.

"Then what are you going to do?" Logan asked, "Go to Magneto –"

"_Never_." Taryn snarled, clenching her eyes shut. That suggestion pained her now, more than ever. It brought back every ounce of pain she had tried to forget in the past weeks, and burned a hole straight through her heart.

"So what, then?" Logan asked, more carefully now.

"I don't know who I am anymore," she said quietly, staring at the floor. "And I don't think there's anyone left in the world that can help me.

"Come with me," he said, grabbing her arm domineeringly. He walked her, even in her bare feet, down the hallway, and towards the bathroom. He nudged her in and shut the door behind her. "Get cleaned up. And fast."

He heard the sink go on and was satisfied that she had done as she was told. She came out, looking slightly more normal. Her eyes had gone nearly back to their usual state, and her hair was now at least smoothened down.

"There." She said, shaking her head. "I'm not as scary anymore, right?"

"Better." Logan said. "Now come on." He brought her to the office, where Storm and Hank were already waiting. Logan took a seat as well, and gestured for Taryn to settle in too.

"I don't wanna talk to anyone," she said hesitantly, but Storm shushed her.

"We're having a discussion about the school," she explained simply. "And I think you of all people deserve to hear what the decision is before everyone else."

Taryn sat down and listened as they argued about the one thing that would have acted as the nail in her coffin – _closing down the school_. She was taken aback by the sheer magnitude of the action they would have to take, and nearly drove herself to the point of hating Dr. McCoy for suggesting it. It seemed that Storm was close to giving in as well.

Closing down the school that Professor Xavier had built out of his own dreams, his own ideas and hopes for a day where one day the students could be accepted into the real world…

Suddenly, a voice piped in from the doorway. Taryn looked up to see a young man, most likely two or three years older than herself, with the grandest pair of feathered wings, and the most striking eyes…

"I was told," he began timidly, "that this was a safe place…"

"It was," Storm said. But then, she looked at Taryn's eyes, and at the things on the wall that had once belonged to Charles. She thought for a moment. This school was in _her _hands now. The fate of all the children here…

"…and it still is."

Taryn looked up at this statement, then, without warning, ran across the room and threw her arms around Storm. "I _knew _you wouldn't do it," she said, her voice spilling with emotion. "I _knew _you wouldn't,"

"Well, at least somebody did," she replied with a slight smile. "Why don't you help our new arrival find a room."

"Yes ma'am," Taryn said, taking a deep breath and turning around. She approached the figure in the doorway and said, in slightly more comfortable tone, "Follow me."

The two began walking silently down the hallway, which Taryn was not at _all _comfortable with. She slowed in her tracks and looked at her companion, holding out her hand. "Taryn Lawson," she said amiably. "…Juno." She smiled slightly. For the first time, she had introduced herself with her codename.

"Catchy," the young man said with a slightly smile. "What can you do?"

Taryn held out her hand, and suddenly, the young man could no longer lift his feet off of the ground. With a slight bit more effort, Taryn managed to lift herself up so she hover about a foot from the ground.

"Sort of lame," she shrugged, letting go of the effect after a few seconds.

"Actually," he said, seeming somewhat more comfortable after seeing her abilities in use, "I'm impressed." Taryn blushed slightly, but shrugged it off.

"I'm at a disadvantage, don't you think?" she said, cocking her head to the side. "I don't think I caught your name."

"That's because I didn't throw it," he said with a grin.

"Then pitch it here," she laughed. She was oddly comfortable with this new stranger at the school, and she made no effort to understand why.

"Angel." He said simply, "Or if you need to be proper about it, Warren Worthington. The third."

A flicker of recognition passed through her eyes. "Worthington?" Taryn said, "No relation to—"

"I don't want to talk about it." He said suddenly. Taryn withdrew apologetically, which didn't go unnoticed. "I'm sorry," he said in a lower tone, "I didn't mean to—"

"It's nothing," Taryn replied sincerely. "Trust me, people have given much more of an earful than at a lot of times lately. Things are just…" she paused. Not wanting to ruin his first impression of the school, she made the split decision to change the subject. "So, Angel…what can you do?"

He gave off the first unhindered smile he'd probably had for days. "Come with me," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out to the balcony nearby. He scooped her off – _literally _sweeping her off of her feet – and instructed her to hold on tight. Before she could even think to ask why, he jumped off of the building, and began diving downwards. Taryn was about to scream when he abruptly pulled out of the dive and began soaring majestically over the school grounds.

Taryn clung tightly to his neck, staring around in wide-eyed bewilderment. Of course, she thought, it should have been _obvious _that he could fly, but she'd never imagined this.

Quickly as the adventure had began, they soon found themselves back on the balcony. Taryn hopped back down to the ground, beaming. She began eyeing his wings, then glanced at him expectantly. "They're beautiful," she said with a slight, unabashedly amazed giggle. "…You're amazing."

Realizing what she had just said, she clapped a hand over her mouth and blushed profusely. "Well, your room's that one, right there," she said, avoiding his gaze as she pointed him to the next door in the hallway.

Warren walked towards the door, opened it, and glanced back at Taryn. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"No problem," Taryn said, smiling back at him slightly. "I'll be back later to check if you need anything." With that, she practically scurried back to her room, her step far lighter than it had been when she had first left it that day.

Meanwhile, two observers of the furrier kind were standing at the end of the hallway, having seen more than either of the young ones had expected.

"Well, she warmed up to this guy fast," Logan pointed out.

"He's quiet." Hank said, "But you know, at least Taryn won't get on his case for not listening. Maybe having him around will be good for her – better than having that _other _beau of hers around, at least."

"Your words, not mine," Logan shrugged. "Keep an eye on her, though, Furball. She's been through a lot – if anything else gets to her, then she might –"

"A class 4 gravitokinetic? I can imagine." Hank quipped. Logan narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I'd rather not have these damn squabbles with you right now." He said through gritted teeth. "We need to find Storm and figure out what our move is."


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N – I've skewed the timeline a bit, so that they're at the Institute for a few days after Warren's arrival before rushing off to Alcatraz.)

* * *

The next couple of days at the Institute were hectic, full of ins and outs beyond anyone's control. Taryn now stayed by herself in her room – Rogue had suddenly decided to leave. Taryn had tried her hardest to convince _Marie _to stay, but her mind was set. Bobby had taken it hard – he didn't know if he ought to have gone after her. Things between them had been wavering as of late, and he thought that chasing her would risk driving her further away.

"Bobby," Taryn said carefully. She wasn't quite sure how to speak to him. They had never been close friends, and the last thing she wanted was to sound like his rival preaching to him. "What do you think you're doing, just letting her leave? You can do _something._"

Bobby looked up. He had been sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. "Yeah." He said, nodding rather sullenly. "I need to find her." He got up, snatched his jacket off of the other end of his bed, and began leaving.

Taryn had a slight, satisfied smile on her face. She was about to walk out herself when he turned around and looked at her. "And Taryn?" he said.

"Hm?" she replied.

"Thanks."

"No problem, Golden Boy." She sighed, laughing a bit in spite of herself. "Go get your girl." Bobby smiled back, nodded, and hurried off down the hall.

As soon as Taryn stepped out of the room, however, Storm was standing by, waiting for her.

"Taryn," she said, "I noticed how close you've gotten to Angel, and I just needed to know –"

"I like the guy. As a friend," she answered, eyes averted and cheeks slightly flushed. "That's all. I can't let it go anywhere else at a time like this."

Storm shook her head and looked meaningfully at Taryn. "If there's one thing I learned, it's that you should do whatever makes you happy, whenever you can. Life's too short." Taryn sighed deeply and stared out the window. "He could be good for you," Storm added.

"Better than John?" Taryn said with a melancholy smirk, knowing very well that Storm didn't particularly care for him.

"I think you know my answer to that one," she replied. She forced her smile on more and walked away.

Storm had been awfully quiet today. Logan had also mysteriously gone off after a slight tiff with her about his reasons for leaving. It seemed that the school was falling apart from the outside in, and there was nothing that could be done.

Taryn, however, had in fact taken to enjoying Warren's company. He didn't talk much to anyone at the school, but Taryn would drop by his quarters throughout the day to make sure he was doing all right.

This day in particular, the day after she had convinced Bobby to leave for San Francisco, she was sitting at the foot of his bed as he stood by the window – he seemed to like being out near the balcony. Their conversation was a rather somber one.

"Your powers," Warren asked. "Did you ever _not _want them?"

Taryn glanced at him, puzzled. "My powers manifested when I was _two_," she said matter-of-factly. "I've never thought about what life would be like without them."

"I almost did it," Warren said, sounding ashamed.

"Huh?"

"I almost got rid of my powers, my wings—"

"But…why?" Taryn asked, dumbfounded. He simply shrugged.

"I couldn't take the antidote," Warren said. "I couldn't believe it, either. All I ever wanted was to be normal." He turned around and looked at Taryn, who seemed completely focused now on what he had to say. "I felt like I was letting my father down by being how I was –"

"By being _amazing_—"

"You're the only person who's ever said I was amazing." He said, sitting down next to her.

"Maybe to your face," she said with a slight smile. She glanced away quickly, then back at, only to find that now it was him staring her.

"Would it be incredibly forward if I…" He trailed of, and Taryn squinted slightly.

"If you…?" she said. He looked at her, and instead of answering her question, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. He lingered for a minute, then leaned backward.

"…kissed you?"

Taryn blushed brightly and looked at the wall on the opposite side of the room. She hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. There was John. And then there was Warren. Taryn knew quite well that anything she had with John belonged in the past, but couldn't force herself to put it there. Warren reached out for her hand, which jolted her back to reality, and he stared at her beseechingly, as if he were asking what – or _who _– was holding her back.

"He used to stay here," Taryn said simply. Warren knew well enough that she was talking about someone else she had feelings for, someone who stood in his way. "He left."

"He left you?" Warren asked, genuinely surprised. He somehow felt that Taryn was the most extraordinary person he had ever known. And the first person he had ever spoken to openly. "But you're…_amazing_."

"That's _my_ line," she laughed slightly. She smiled and looked into his eyes. He was about to lean in for a second kiss when someone ran into the doorway.

"Taryn, come on." Bobby said stoically, wearing his black X-Uniform. "We need to suit up." Taryn stared at him, eyebrows furrowed. She knew that the only reason they'd be leaving was that Magneto had decided to—

"Suit up?" she repeated. "Me?"

Bobby smiled in spite of himself. "I think you deserve it by now." Taryn smiled slightly as well, but looked away unsurely. "We need you." He said sullenly. "Just hurry up and make up your mind." And with that, he ran off.

Taryn sat for a minute, and Warren stared at her in concern. She glanced at him again. "Warren, be safe, okay?" she said quietly. She stood up and took his hand. "And if I don't come back, just remember, you're amazing." She leaned over and kissed him quickly, then ran off in the same direction as Bobby, running downstairs. She found a uniform in a case and snatched it off of the display, finding that it fit her perfectly. She hurried to the entrance to the Danger Room just in time to hear Bobby said, "There are only six of us –"

"Seven," she panted, running into their midst.

"Taryn?" Storm asked, making it obvious that he had expected her not to come.

"I'm _with _you." Taryn replied with a slight grin. "You need someone to hold down the fort – literally." She thought back to the day at the Grey household.

She glanced at each of the people around her. Colossus, Kitty, Ice Man, Storm, Beast, Wolverine – and now, Juno. This was who they were now, and this was what they had to do. They walked out to the hangar and got onto the Blackbird.

"You know, John really is one of them," Bobby said carefully as he took the seat between her and Kitty. "He blew the roof off of the labs just earlier. If you have to fight him—"

"John doesn't exist anymore." Taryn said, closing her eyes as the plane took off. Bobby glanced forward by chance and saw this same torn, conflicted expression on Logan's face. The engines roared, and they flew towards what could well be their final fight.

Meanwhile, Warren watched as they left. He ran back to his quarters, out to his balcony, spread his wings, and fought the war with himself whether or not to return to the place where, at least for him, all of this had started.


	5. Chapter 5

"HOLD THIS LINE!"

Taryn was shaking. She wanted to run, or to cry, or to scream out how scared she was. But Logan's words only made it all the more real what they were doing on Alcatraz Island in the middle of the night.

She had never fought another _real _person in her life, and now here she was, standing in a team of seven against what may as well have been the rest of the mutants in the world. And what hurt the most was that John was standing there, just on the opposite hill. For one moment, while the forces still stood awestruck, staring at these _X-Men _­who dared to defy the odds, the two locked eyes. Taryn thought for a fleeting instant, that he made a move towards her, just ever so slightly, but he stopped when Magneto held out a hand and stopped him. Faintly, she heard the words, ".._the pawns go first_."

So that's it, Taryn thought. He wasn't coming to her. He was coming to _fight…_

_And so was she._

She grounded herself steadily, and stared intensely at the horde of opponents before her. As they began to rush forward, she stared at her comrades one more time, all of them standing, ready to fight.

Suddenly, the battle was upon them.

"Not quite like the Danger Room anymore, is it?" Bobby said with a grunt as one of his opponents crashed to the ground, encased in a shell of ice.

"Not particularly," Taryn panted, sending a particularly large and stony-built mutant crashing to the ground.

Meanwhile, John was watching from higher ground alongside Magneto and Jean – Colossus had pressed forward with orders to _kill the boy_. As much as John hated to admit it, it pained him to watch Taryn fight. She _could _fight. She was a good fighter – but she was fighting against him. The sound of his conscience, which even he had forgotten existed, were screaming in his ears, deafening him, until the point it was nearly unbearable. He began to walk forward, down into the battle zone, when Magneto took him forcefully by the shoulder.

"If you go to her, you go _against me_." He said coldly. "And you know that I do not tolerate traitors."

John froze, and he rethought his steps, taking his place back with Magneto.

And the rush continued. Along the way, Taryn lost track of where Kitty had gone, but couldn't pull herself away to find her. Taryn was tired. She was dizzy and her blood was boiling – she had always given it her all in the Danger Room, but never for this long. Her head was spinning, and she fought like an automaton, working off of her knowledge that she _needed _to win in order to survive.

Suddenly, she felt someone take a hold of her shoulder. She spun around to counter, but stopped when she saw that it was just Bobby.

"I need you to help me." He said sullenly. Taryn looked at him and nodded in consent. "I need to fight John. And I need to win."

Taryn froze, her breath catching in her throat. "_John_," she said quietly. "John isn't here. _Pyro _is. You go." She said stiffly. She rolled her shoulders and made eye contact with Bobby. "I'll cover you."

Bobby nodded, not sure of what else to say, and walked out to into the open. Suddenly, Taryn shrieked loudly as a flaming car began hurtling through the sky – Bobby shoved out his arm and forcefully sent it crashing to the ground, now covered in an icy exoskeleton.

Taryn gazed helplessly as the two boys – one who had once been her fiercest competitor, the other, the love of her life – engaged in a fight that had been brewing, ever since the moment they met – finally, the meeting of fire and ice.

John's face glowed evilly. Now, he had forgotten everything. He had forgotten the past year, he had forgotten that Taryn was just a few feet away – all he saw now was the chance to show up _Bobby Drake_, the boy who was good at everything, who everybody loved, who everyone always wanted John to be more like. _Pyro _had _Iceman _at his mercy for once. For once, _John Allerdyce _was the better man. He had him on his knees, and a sense of supreme power surged through him. He was going to win. He was going to leave the X-Men's little _golden boy _in a heap of ashes on the ground of Alcatraz Island. "You're in over your head, Bobby. Maybe you should go back to school…"

Suddenly, John felt his knees being pulled hard to the ground, the pain of impact jarring him just enough to let Bobby get back on his feet, and with his second wind, Iceman was now completely encased in a cold shell of – well, _ice_. John saw, from a short distance, that Taryn had her hand outstretched, her face set in concentration. _She _was doing this to him…

As quickly as the power surge had come, the tables were turned, and things were as they always _had _been. _Bobby _was coming out on top, and _Bobby _was going to win. And now, Taryn was on _Bobby's _side. John couldn't keep his mind in check now. He had lost _everything._ He didn't even see Bobby's head coming until it made contact with his own with a harsh _crack_, and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious, just barely able to hear the words, "You never should've left."

Bobby glanced back at Taryn, who smiled at him weakly.

There was no time to relish the victory, though. The fight was far from finished. It wouldn't be enough to just hold them back. They had to win, to end this once and for all.

"We work as a team." Logan said gravely, and each of their small numbers looked one another in the eye. Despite the situation, Storm gave a slight smile.

"The best defense is a good offense…"

Taryn could only sit back – she wanted to watch, watch and see, maybe that they had won the day. But she had to keep her back turned and hidden behind a slab of debris. Every time she turned around, she could only see John, lying there. He wasn't Pyro while he wasn't hurting anyone…

Suddenly, she heard a loud cry, and more than one voice yelled out for them to run. Taryn wheeled around and saw everyone fleeing. Magneto was nowhere to be seen, most likely shuffled off by a crowd after what Logan had done to him…but Jean stood atop a high hill. Taryn somehow _knew _what this meant.

She made to run when suddenly, the scaffold skeleton of a building gave way around her, leaving her trapped with only one way to exit. She made for the small clearing, but froze when she came close to John's prone figure. She heard someone scream for her to keep running, but she merely screamed out, "Not without him!"

Focusing hard, she managed to levitate him from the ground, but found that she didn't have enough energy to get them anywhere that way. She was too tired. She was going to die there, right next to John –

Suddenly, with a swooping sensation, she felt herself being hoisted from the ground. She turned her head around and saw a familiar face…

"Warren," she whispered, smiling slightly in relief when she saw that he had lifted John onto his back as well. "Thank you."

He brought them to the jet and set them both down, but Taryn would have it. She glanced out at the open battle field, where Logan was fighting his way toward Jean.

"Warren, fly me over there," she said, her voice set. Storm grabbed her by the arm and yanked her backwards.

"No—"

"I need to prove that I'm _one of you_." Taryn said with a finality in her voice that left no room for dissent. Angel nodded, knowing full well that he was putting himself on the line for Taryn's pride, but not caring. They flew out over the open zone, back just far enough to feel the effects of Jean's psywaves just slightly.

Taryn focused harder than she _ever _had, in all her training. She had to make sure Logan made it to Jean without being swept away. If his feet left the ground, the cause was as good as lost. She could feel her outstretched arm tiring and growing cold from tension. For a tiny second, Jean looked up and locked eyes with the tiny girl who was obviously no match for her – Taryn's head felt as if it was going to explode, but she held onto control desperately. Logan was almost there, he was right in front of her, now if he could only do what he came to do. Taryn could feel herself slipping…

"_Juno…always biting off more than she could –_"

Blackness. Vaguely, she felt herself lose grip completely, falling limp onto Warren's shoulders, as he heard Logan – _Wolverine_ – cry out in both victory and anguish.

* * *

_A/N: Yeah,crappy chapter. I'm not good at writing action scenes. I just needed to get this part over with, and it took WAY longer than expected. _

_I tweaked the details of the final battle a little bit too. Sowwy. _

_Oh yeah...Don't worry, the story isn't over yet. We've only just begun. _


	6. Chapter 6

Taryn opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the brighter atmosphere she was now in. She came to realize within seconds that she was still in the jet, which was still flying over Lord knows where.

"You had us worried."

"Warren," she said in a tired, throaty voice. She turned around to see that he had been sitting behind her where she lay on a makeshift cot cushioned by blankets. "You really are amazing…"

"Just call me your Guardian Angel," he said. The both of them laughed at the how silly the statement had just sounded, but suddenly, Warren looked into Taryn's smiling face, obviously still tired, and said, "Just call me _yours._"

Taryn blushed slightly and looked away, her mouth opening and closing a few times, groping for words to reply with. What was she supposed to say?

Fortunately, she didn't need to answer Warren. Storm cleared her throat and tapped Taryn on the shoulder from behind.

"Taryn," she said softly, "I think that someone would like you to know that he's decided to come back _for good_."

Taryn gasped slightly as she saw John standing behind Storm – he had heard _everything_. "Oh god," she muttered quietly. "This is impossible. _Fucking _impossible…John?"

"Replaced me already?" he asked.

"Taryn?" Warren asked. Suddenly, Taryn felt like a fly caught in a spiderweb. She couldn't do anything but explain herself now.

"Warren, this is John," she said timidly. "My…­_ex-_boyfriend."

"Ex?" John said. "News to me."

Warren glanced between the two of them, looking confused, uncomfortable, and admittedly slightly heartbroken. "Maybe you two…need some time alone." He said. He walked away and took a seat near the front of the jet. John and Taryn glanced at Storm, who gestured silently toward the medical quarters. Taryn stepped into the tiny, bright-lit, almost closet-sized room, with John following close behind and slamming the door.

"John." Taryn said, flinching slightly as the door met its hold in the wall. "Did you really think that I was going to drop everything and wait for you like some sick little puppy, when it was _you _who walked out on _me_?" He looked down at his feet, unsure of what to say. He _had _expected her to wait for him – and Taryn knew that. But how could she, when…

"You would have never even come back if –"

"_You can't love him!" _John said suddenly, clenching his eyes shut and not looking up. "I was _wrong _about everything. Taryn, you can't love him—"

"I _don't_!" Taryn snapped back, but in her mind added a small afterthought – "…_not yet._"

"You can't give him the chance," John said, finally locking eyes with Taryn again. "I came back, doesn't that _mean _anything?"

Taryn clenched her teeth. In all truth, she wanted it to mean something. She wanted it to mean that things could go back to normal, and that everything would be easy for them. But it wasn't true. John coming back at that exact moment couldn't have made any less difference. The Professor was dead, Scott was dead, and the world had just been turned upside down. After seeing just how many mutants were against them, who was to know how the _human _world would react. The lifetime in which John and Taryn had even known each other at all had died alongside the fragile peace that had existed just weeks ago. "You're too late." Taryn said dismally.

* * *

Being back at the school was almost unbearable for Taryn, and everyone knew it, too. Rogue had come back to the school, and still stayed in the same room as Taryn, but apart from the occasional "Hi," and "I'm fine, really," could get nothing out of her. She wouldn't go outside, she only went downstairs to eat, and she slammed the door hard on its hinges whenever Warren or John passed by.

Storm didn't enjoy seeing her like this. She'd been like this when John had first left, but had gotten better, especially in the short few days after Warren had arrived at the school.

"Taryn," she said one day, standing in the girl's doorway while she was sitting by herself. "Sweetie, don't you want to go outside? Swim, go for a walk…" Silence. Storm soon added, with a slight smile. "It won't rain, I promise."

A twitch of a grin appeared for a moment on Taryn's face, then disappeared. "I'm just tired," she said, shaking her head.

"You're always tired.' Storm pointed out, looking at Taryn with an expression that made it absolutely clear that she knew something was wrong, and that she wasn't going to drop this interrogation.

"Warren and John in the same place," Taryn said uncomfortably. "How am I supposed to figure anything out when the last thing I want to do is hurt either or them? I mean, I can collapse buildings, I can float in the air, I can do a million things – but with all the power I've got, I can't even do something as simple as make up my mind? There's gotta be something…"

"Maybe I'm not the one you should be talking to," Storm said, glancing out the window. Taryn followed her gaze and saw the view of three tombstones. "I think someone out there might understand this situation better than I do."

Taryn sighed, then nodded.

After a few minutes of freshening up, Taryn stepped outside and sat down in front of the three headstones, running her hand fondly over each one. She stopped in front of Jean's specifically and gave off a deep breath.

"I don't think anyone but you would have ever gotten what I'm going through right now," she said in a strained voice. "I feel dumb, talking to a piece of rock, but I don't really have any other option. I feel like I'm going crazy. I feel dazed, and scared, and confused and—" she paused and placed a hand on the stone for support as her head began spinning horribly.

"_Really dizzy…"_

_Suddenly, she found herself no longer outside in the courtyard of the school, but somewhere that seemed as though it were made of clouds. She glanced around, and jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder._

"_Jean?" she muttered._

_The red-haired woman, haired cut short like the last time Taryn had seen her as her normal self, smiled. "You're definitely not the same little girl who showed up sixteen years ago," she said with a nostalgic laugh. "I'm afraid even I can't help you on this one, sweetie. I can only read your mind, you know. I can't tell you what's in your heart."_

"_I wanted to die after John left," Taryn said blankly, her eyes glazed and unfocused. "I was ready to be alone forever, and then…and then Warren shows up, and everything feels like it's going to be okay, and like I can start over—"_

"_You and John were in love." Jean said carefully, placing a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder. "I could tell. And he needed you so badly, because you were loyal, and trusting, and honest. You were happy to give, because he made you happy. But then…" Taryn stared, attention rapt, even during this poignant pause. "…then, he started asking more and more of you. Yet you still kept at it, even if you knew it was going wrong. You probably remember that incident at the museum."_

"_How could I forget?" Taryn said with a slight smirk, a vague remnant of her normal self. "God, that feels like ages ago I felt guilty, because…" she trailed off._

"_Because what?"_

"_Because I thought I could've kept him out of trouble if I'd been there."_

"_You were drained, just from being with him, and that's understandable." Jean said comfortingly, seeing the guilt and hurt crawling back into Taryn's eyes. "He needs you so much, and you're just a little girl, no matter how much you try to pretend otherwise. You're not ready." Taryn's gaze shifted downward, acknowledging that she was right. "Now, this Warren…"_

_Taryn looked up again, completely focused._

"_I saw the two of you, that day of the battle." She said. _

_Taryn shifted uncomfortably. She knew that the real Jean had been there somewhere, trying to fight the Phoenix back, but for her to have actually seen everything…_

"_He seems genuine." Jean continued. "He's loyal, good-looking…and he won't ask so much of you. He can take care of you, treat you how John never did. You smiled when you saw him that day, even knowing that you may have been about to die."_

"_Me, die?" Taryn said with a discomforted laugh, trying to change the subject, "I had it covered."_

"_Who do you love?" Jean asked pointedly._

"_I loved John…"_

"_Loved." Jean repeated, "And then he asked you to compromise everything you stood for, everything you'd always known. He wanted you to follow him to his own dreams, and leave yours behind."_

"_And Warren—"_

"_Would never ask that of you." Jean said._

"_I want to give him a chance," Taryn said desperately, her voice on the verge of giving way to a flurry of tears. "But I don't want John getting hurt."_

"_Don't make your mind up yet." Jean said. "You're not ready. You're still hurting from everything that's happened, and you need time to heal. Besides…"_

_Taryn felt her head start to spin once again, and the bright whiteness of her surroundings began to fade away. She barely held on to the image long enough to hear Jean say one final thing: "I have a feeling that there are other things that need to be done."_

THUD.

Taryn landed on her back on something hard. She found herself in a dark room, and she wondered if this was yet another dream, another hallucination…

She stood up and paced until she found the nearest wall, then groped around until she rested her hand on a light switch. She flipped it on, and her eyes clenched shut in protest at the clear, piercing light that followed. Once she adjusted, she glanced around.

"The lab?" she muttered to herself. She noticed that on the desk next to her, the computer was on, and it was attached to a machine loaded with DNA samples. She picked up the tube and read the label, "Codename: Leech"

Taryn glanced at the monitor screen and saw the strand of DNA diagrammed there. She must have been put in this room, with things exactly this way, for some reason. She shifted her attention back and forth between the test tube and the computer screen.

It took her a moment to notice the array of options on the screen, and the word **ANTIDOTE **emblazoned across the top of the image.

"If this makes the antidote…" she muttered to herself, then maybe…

She clicked the option to invert combinations of DNA, then glanced at the screen. "Then there has to be a way to _reverse _it."

Suddenly, a tiny door opened from a metal box that resembled a safe on the other side of the computer, revealing a new test tube held by a metal arm. Taryn picked it up and glanced at it.

"An _anti-_antidote…"

* * *

_A/N_

_First of all, I'm no geneticist, and I know it's not that simple to manipulate DNA, but just go with it. Suspension of doubt, my friends._

_Just to get a taste of what you guys think, who do you want Taryn to end up with? I kind of have an idea of where the story goes from here, but I just felt compelled to ask you guys. Kthnx!_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N (at the beginning of the chapter! Good lord, what is she thinking!)_

_Okay. I couldn't find a reply link in your review, so I'll just tell you on here: to my reviewer, **The Green Bird**, you absolutely read my mind on one or two points in your review, though I won't tell you which ones. Just suffice it to say that a lot of the things you mentioned are coming up later chapters that I've already written and just need some editing for continuity and accuracy. I'm an X-geek myself, admittedly, and I at least PLAN on sticking some comicverse into this story – not enough of it in the movie! Not heavy storylines, though, because that would make this story EPIC-length. So keep your eyes open, maybe two chapters from now. Right now, I'm focusing a little bit more on the trifles of teenage life, before jumping headfirst into anything heavy._

_And now, folks, on with the show._

_

* * *

_

John was pacing the hallway. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back. Forth. Back. Forth—

_"God, where the hell is she?"_ He snapped out loud to no one in particular, gesticulating wildly with the full range of motion in his arms out of frustration.

"Where the hell is _who_?" Warren asked, apparently having just stepped out of the kitchen. He, of course, knew very well who John was looking for.

"Nobody." John snapped back, walking away.

Truth be told, John wanted to find Taryn. She'd been avoiding him for days, now – at least three. Granted, avoiding someone wasn't too much of a hassle in a mansion of this size, she'd never been able to avoid him this long before. Of course, she'd never _tried_ before.

Suddenly, a dorm-room door swung open, and Taryn nonchalantly waltzed out.

John hurried over to her, trying to catch up with her quick-paced stride. He managed to come abreast of her and gently grabbing hold of her wrist – not too insistently or tightly, because he knew he'd get a nice bruise from her for it. "Hey, can we talk?" He asked, trying to sound vulnerable. Cooperative. _Whatever _it was that girls wanted from guys these days—

"Maybe later, I'm busy," she said simply, breezing by him. No anger, no hatred. Nothing. Maybe a hint of annoyance at him holding her up from going wherever she was headed off too, but nothing else. He shook his head, shrugged it off, and walked off in the other direction. He had just turned the corner when he heard Storm and Wolverine speaking to one another, sounding very close to the spot where he had been standing just moments earlier.

"She's been spending a lot of time down there." Storm pointed out. John assumed she meant _downstairs_— the inner sanctum of the school, where all of the X-Geek affairs took place.

"Danger room?" Logan suggested.

"I don't think so." Storm replied skeptically. "Let's go check this out."

_Check this out, indeed, _John thought. He crept back around the corner once he thought the coast was clear, when he bumped straight into—

"You haven't even been back for three weeks, and something already smells fishy. What are you doing sneaking around, Pyro?" Warren said, eyes slightly narrowed.

"Going down for a little go at the Danger Room," he lied easily. He seemed more than just slightly affronted by the fact that this shirtless winged _newbie _was acting like he knew everything about John, about his past, about the school…

"Right." Warren said. "I'm onto you."

"Onto me?" John said, making a strange, skeptic and offended face which consisted of a raised eyebrow and a cocked lip.

"You're not back here for good. You'll bail at the first opportunity, and I know because I know people like _you_," Warren snapped. "And you're not going down there."

"Well, what are you _stalking _me for, anyhow?" John retorted. "Are you the place's new watch dog or something?"

Warren's face turned slightly red at the comment, and he glared at John. "Why don't you just pick a side and haul out of here, double-crosser?"

"Why don't you make me?" John said, drawing up to his full height, which still wasn't quite as tall as Warren. And without a source of flame – he didn't exactly have access to his flamethrowers anymore – Warren could've taken him on pretty easily.

"I've got better things to do." Warren said, moving past him and towards the elevator. John simply followed him silently, waited for the door, and edged him out of the way in order to get in first. "If you're going down there to see Taryn, don't even bother. Just stay away—"

"First of all, she's not yours yet, so don't get _too_ comfy." John said through gritted teeth. "Second, I'm not going down there to harass her. I'm going down to see what Storm and Wolverine think is so strange about her being there." A loud 'ding' told them they had reached their stop. "So keep your fucking mouth shut and maybe I won't tell her you've been stalking her just as much as I have."

The two of them glared at each other for another moment as the doors slid open, then walked in silence to the nearest open door, which was only slightly ajar, and positioned themselves to her three people speaking.

"So the little mad scientist is scheming something?" Wolverine said. "Or did you think you were just playing with a chemistry set that just happened to be behind closed doors?"

"I just want to set things right." Taryn huffed. "The Professor wouldn't want his own kind suffering like this."

"Suffering?" Storm asked. "I'm afraid you'll need to elaborate."

"You've seen Rogue!" Taryn said in a somewhat conspiratorial whisper. And it was true. Things between Rogue and Bobby had been even rougher than usual, rougher than _ever_, because for a short time, the cure _appeared _to work. They could touch one another – they practically had to be pried from one another. Rogue insisted on being called 'Marie,' her _real _name, and only stayed at the school out of convenience. And then, her powers started slowly coming back, and the transition hit hard. She didn't when she could touch Bobby, when she couldn't, and things were worse than ever, because, as she saw it, she had gotten so _close_…

"The cure doesn't _work_!" Taryn continued after allowing a brief pause so her older companions could think. "So everyone who took it is walking around with _half-assed _powers, and nobody's satisfied. And I know what the Professor would want me to do."

"You don't mean…"

"I need to find Magneto." Taryn said simply. "This serum will neutralize the effects of that _cure._"

There was a long, poignant silence that followed. It surprised both John and Warren that Storm and Logan were even considering letting Taryn go through with this.

"You're not going alone, if you have to go at all." Logan said tersely.

"I'll go with her." John said resolutely, making all three other inhabitants of the room jump as he swung open the door.

"No, I will," Warren said, following suit. Taryn rolled her eyes at the idea of the two boys sitting outside like a couple of five-year-olds, eavesdropping on every word.

"Oh, _please, _hippy boy, go put a shirt on." John spat vehemently. "Your little butterfly wings aren't gonna protect her, so why don't you go use 'em to fan yourself off—"  
"John—" Taryn tried to interrupt.

"So you _do _pick him!" John said, wheeling around to face Taryn now.

"I don't pick _anyone._" Taryn said resolutely, rubbing her left temple in annoyance. "I'm better off doing this on my own, so you two might as well find something else to duke it out over."

"You're going to _walk _back to San Francisco to hand deliver your little bottle of miracle juice to our old pal?" Logan said sarcastically.

"Or drive, unless you plan on taxiing me over there in the jet," Taryn said, crossing her arms and facing Logan, almost _daring _him to refuse. He stared at her for a minute, taking in the message conveyed by this _little girl's _rather unimposing figure. "I want to do this, and I want to do it by myself, for closure, if anything," she continued. "The last thing I did for Professor Xavier was let him down, and I need to make up for that."

Everyone studied her for a minute, and it only took a short amount of time to determine that she was genuine – this wasn't some overdone attempt at sainthood. She needed to do this, or she couldn't move on.

"Chuck's girl, through and through." Logan said with a harsh chuckle. "Let's corral you kids into the jet before I change my mind."

* * *

_A/N (again)_

_Just a short, filler chapter to set things up for future chapters. & Thanks mucho for your feedback! It seems like the jury's still out on who they want Taryn to end up with. Any comic fans out there are gonna recognize some characters in future chapters. (And by future, I mean _**waaaaaay **_future. I'm gonna briefly throw one additional original mutant in there, then things are gonna get FUNKY. Wait up for the funkiness about 2 chapters from now.)_

_Also, what do you guys think about Rogue & Bobby? They haven't been playing too much of a role in this fic. I'm thinking about a Gambit cameo somewhere down the road. Any objections to that?_

_Aaaaaand finally, for anyone who's wondering, I haven't forgotten about that scene after the credits in X3. (wink wink)_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer **_**(since I haven't had a real one in a while): **The only thing I own is my original character, for what she's worth, plus any other original stuff pops up here and there. That's all. Unless Ben Foster and Aaron Stanford decide to willingly submit to my ownership, haha. )_

* * *

Planes.

They just had to take planes.

Taryn sighed in exasperation. If Nightcrawler had still been around, they could have avoided this mess, she thought as she stepped onto the jet.

Oddly enough, they'd decided to bring Rogue along with them too, presumably to get her away from Bobby, whom they had left at the school. Taryn pitied her. She was always so quiet, so timid, and had never really done anything to deserve what she went through.

So before anything got any worse, Taryn decided that she ought to talk to her. True, Taryn wasn't in possession of any astounding universal truth. She couldn't make everything all better, but, she thought, it was her obligation as a friend to try. She motioned outside to Storm, who had just stationed herself at the controls, and she nodded.

Taryn came up behind Rogue and tapped her on the shoulder. "Can I talk to you?" she said plainly. Rogue looked at her in somewhat a state of surprise, then nodded. The two girls stepped outside, passing right by both Warren and John on their way up the ramp to the jet. Rogue noticed that Taryn didn't look at either of them.

"You know, you can't avoid them forever," Rogue said.

"Yeah, I know," Taryn sighed quietly. But she remembered why she was out here in the first place. "Listen, I didn't take you out here to whine about Warren and John. That's my mess, and I'll handle it whenever I need to. I came out here because I wanted to talk to you about Bobby—"

"For what?" Rogue snapped uncomfortably. "Things are just like they were before again. Just like they've always been…"

"Bobby's awesome." Taryn said carefully. "He's a great guy – a great catch. But it's driving you crazy, trying to be what you think he wants. I went through that with John, I know. Not as bad as what you're going through, but you've gotta believe that I know the feeling." Taryn paused, realizing that she had no idea what to say. She couldn't tell Rogue everything was going to be okay. She couldn't tell her that things would always be this hard, either. "What I mean is…"

"What you mean is that you feel sorry for me." Rogue said.

Taryn paused. "Okay, we'll start with that. I feel sorry for you, but not for the reasons you think I do. I feel sorry for you because you can't let go."

"_Let go?_"Rogue asked. "Let go of what?"

"You keep trying to run away from your powers, to hide from them." Taryn said. "You keep wishing they'd go away, and they _won't_. The hard truth is that sometimes, you can't just _be a kid _when you're like _us_. You have to face things head-on. You can't keep hiding from everything. You can't be _happy _unless you stop trying to change what you can't."

"I'm not hiding." Rogue said quietly. But Taryn could tell that her words had hit home. Maybe, Taryn hoped, she'd given Rogue that nudge she needed to finally get past that state of shock she'd been in ever since her powers had manifested.

"Let's go," Taryn said quietly. "They're probably waiting for us."

* * *

Discomfort.

Silence.

Two of the things Taryn hated most in the world, and she was currently smothered in it.

The six of them were placed in the jet – and in the most precarious positions. Taryn, lacking any other place to sit apart from a much-loathed window seat, which Rogue had thankfully taken, was positioned in between Warren and John, and she didn't fail to notice the irony of it.

As the plane took off, Taryn gripped the armrests of the seats tightly, a sickly, vaporous fear bubbling up inside of her and rattling her to no end. She remembered that on the rare occasion she had been inside of the jet when she and John were still in their better days, she would grab his hand and squeeze it mercilessly. Then she remembered clinging on to Warren for dear life as they jumped off of the balcony the first time she'd met him.

And now, she couldn't grab onto anyone.

Instead, while her eyes were clenched shut, she felt two hands, both from opposite sides, grab onto her. She forced her eyes open and saw that, though oblivious to one another's actions, Warren and John had each grabbed one of her hands.

"You're going to be okay," Warren said.

"Like you really _know _that." John snapped, leaning forward and looking at Warren challengingly. "If you're gonna win her over by lying to her—"

"Why _wouldn't _she be all right?" he retorted. "Unless you've got something up your sleeve— I wouldn't put it past you—"

"Just because _I've _got no problem starting something—" John let go of Taryn's hand and made to undo his seatbelt.

"All right, _kids_," Taryn snapped, wrenching her hands away and crossing her arms. "Fight time's over. Why'd you two even have to come?"

John glared, "You're going to have to choose eventually—"

"Then maybe I choose _neither._" Taryn snapped.

That did it. The entire trip from that point on was completely silent. And for once, Taryn liked it this way. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, trying to forget that she was physically in between the very two people playing a violent game of tug-of-war with her.

She found her mind wandering to how things had been before, when she had been John's doe-eyed, naïve, tagalong girlfriend. And a part of her missed it. Now she was strong, independent, torn…all of the things she'd never desired to be or envisioned being.

She was shaken from her reverie by the jolt of the plane making contact with the ground again. She peered to the side, directly over Warren, who was looking resolutely straight ahead.

"We're in the woods," Taryn said matter-of-factly. "I understand we've got to keep cover, but do we even know –"

"Head straight down the hill and keep walking until you get to the gate of the park." Logan recited. "You'll know it when you see it."

"Well, how do we even know that Magneto's _there_?" Taryn retorted.

"We just do." Logan snapped. "Now are you going to do this or not?"

* * *

_A/N_

_Another filler/expository chapter. Basically, just leading up to Taryn meeting up with Magneto, plus playing up the love triangle. I don't know about you, but if I was in Taryn's position, I'd have one MAJOR headache._


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N - Picks up right about where the last chapter left off._

* * *

"I could go by myself," Taryn said resolutely.

"Yeah, let's have the teenage girl walk through the woods _all on her own, _just like they do in horror flicks. Smart." Logan retorted. Taryn narrowed her eyes at him. Then, almost spitefully, Logan continued, with a smirk, "Why don't you take your _boyfriend _with you?"

"Why don't we just all go?" Rogue suggested. "Not tag along or anything. Just for back-up."

Taryn looked back and forth between Rogue, Logan, John, and Warren. Storm was remaining unusually silent.

"Storm?" Taryn said timidly, hoping for some guidance.

"I don't think it's a good idea for _all _of us to go find Magneto," she said, looking swiftly but pointedly at John.

"For fuck's sake, you're all still fucking against me!" He snapped, gesticulating wildly with his arms again.

"For _fuck's sake_, just a few weeks ago, _you_ were against all of _us_." Rogue retorted, glaring at him with narrowed eyes. Taryn looked at her in surprise, especially at her tone of voice – now _that _was new.

"I don't think—" Taryn began. She was about to do it again, jump straight to John's defense but she managed to stop herself. "I don't think that there's any problem with all of you staying just a little bit behind." She said, sounding somewhat defeated, but I talk to the _man _alone."

"I think you're forgetting a talk we had back on the island," Logan said, suddenly sounding somewhat sincere, "Something about _being a team_." Taryn looked up, then back down at her feet, slightly humiliated. Here she was, alienating herself again. She always whined about being out of the loop, and now when she had a chance…

"Let's go." She said quietly. She wasn't sure what she was going to do.

The lot of them filed quietly out of the jet, not speaking to one another, but Rogue managed a small smile to Taryn, for reasons Taryn wasn't quite sure of. They followed a slightly trodden path down to a garden gate, where Taryn peered in. Really, it was just a bunch of people playing chess. Chess, of all things.

"You guys stay back behind the brush," she said quietly, "Keep me in sight, in case something happens." She added, knowing that nothing _would _happen. After a minute of thought on it, the rest agreed and stepped back. Taryn dug into her coat pocket and made sure the sealed syringe was still safe in its casing, took a deep breath, and walked through the gate.

She had to walk through a few turns and sections of chess-players until she saw him – an old man with grey hair, sitting at a board alone, staring at the pieces sulkily. Quietly, she approached him.

"Mr. Lensherr," she said in soft tones, once she was standing behind him. He gave a slight start and turned around, looking at her in both recognition and surprise. "Taryn Lawson," she said, reaching out a hand. He narrowed his eyes slightly in suspicion, then shook it quickly, not rising from his seat. "I can give them back to you."

"Give _what _back to me?" he snapped, his voice hoarse and harsh, owing to the fact that he seldom spoke to anyone.

"What was _taken _from you," Taryn replied simply.

"I don't require any assistance." Lensherr said starkly. "Nothing has been _taken_."

"That _cure_," Taryn spat derisively, scoffing the fact that it was called a _cure _for anything, "Didn't take away your powers, I know that. But you're weak." The man she addressed scoffed despondently, but nonetheless averted his gaze in some degree of shame. Taryn continued, "In my left coat pocket, I have the antidote for the suppression of your mutation."

"That's a lie." He said, though his eyes grazed back up to her in keen interest. "You wouldn't be foolish enough to give me back my powers."

"It's the natural order of things," Taryn replied in a harsh, stoic tone.

"You would _help _me," Lensherr began, "when you have every reason to watch me die a human's death? I stole Pyro from you – _John_." He corrected, allowing himself a slight smirk at the pained expression on Taryn's face at the harsh reminder of the circumstances that be.

"_He _went to you of his own accord. You didn't steal anything – He was never _mine _to begin with." She said through gritted teeth.

"Why should I believe you?" he said straightforwardly.

"You ask a lot of questions." Taryn retorted in a matter-of-fact, almost sing-song tone. "What do you have to lose?" Lensherr still did not honor her question with an answer, seeing as her own answer had been, in his mind, unsatisfactory. Taryn huffed loudly, slightly dropping her stony façade and allowing a bit of her young spark to come through. "The Professor would have wanted it this way," she said in a desperate sigh, as though she were reluctant to reveal her real reasons. "There is a difference between an _enemy_…and an _adversary_."

Lensherr leaned back, processing what the girl had said with a slight degree of surprise. He hadn't expected this from one of Charles' _X-Men_. The only one he would have expected it from was, in fact, Charles himself. "At least one of you learned something from him." He replied after a pause.

"I learned everything I _know_ from him," Taryn said indignantly. "Now, I'm going to make this offer one final time. Will you accept the opportunity to change back, or live the rest of your life –" she gestured at the untouched chessboard, "—_like this_?"

"What are your conditions?" He said skeptically, "That I don't lay a hand on—"

"I came to make a deal. What you do afterwards is none of my concern. There _are _no conditions, as Professor Xavier would have had it." Taryn said quickly, willing herself to finish each sentence as though it tortured her. "Now if this is your way of refusing—"

"I'll take it." He said finally.

Taryn pulled the syringe discreetly from her coat and held it up, removing the cover. "Are you going to do it _yourself_," she said, finally sounding more like herself as she stood with one hand on her hip.

"Of course," he said, finally feeling as though he held something over this _little girl _again, and he took the syringe from her hand. "We wouldn't want my return on your _clean conscience_." He quickly, greedily injected himself in the arm. For a minute, his eyes clenched shut, and his body trembled. Then, he opened his eyes, then gestured towards the chess board. The silver pieces flew into arrangement, and a snide grin spread across his face. "You have my gratitude," he said, addressing Taryn but not looking at her, "I can guarantee no more than that."

"The fight between us never ends, _Magneto._" she stated. "Resolution is unnatural. So…let the game _begin_."

"Well-spoken," he said. Then, he gestured for her to have a seat. "Someone needs to take Charles' place as my _adversary_." He said matter-of-factly. "Let us see if you are up to the challenge." Taryn stared for a minute, then sat down as directed. He wanted to play chess; this was all a game…

* * *

"She's taking too long." John snapped. "It doesn't take a goddamn _hour _to find a guy and stick a needle in his arm."

"You saying we should go in?" Logan said, staring at him suspiciously.

"I'm saying that she could be dead right now while we're sitting here playing in _leaves_." He said. They all looked at each other, then concluded that, unfortunately, John was right. Taryn had been there by herself too long. Something was amiss.

They all tried to enter the park as inconspicuously as possible. They split up, not sure where to find Taryn.

And it was John who found her.

Playing chess.

"Hey!" he said loudly, feeling quite stupid immediately after when it was Magneto who turned around and saw him.

"Well, look who we have here," he said with a snide grin, standing up. "I suppose you've changed your mind again, _Pyro_? Never satisfied unless you're on the winning side—you're the most indecisive _little boy _I've ever met, Pyro—"

"My name's _John_," he said through gritted teeth, glancing at Taryn, who stared at him as though she had just taken Magneto's words to heart.

Suddenly, it seemed as though the walls had closed in on all sides – the bushes and topiary figures that dotted the park seemed to burst open, with people jumping out of them, Taryn leapt up and looked around.

"_You conniving son-of-a—_"

"I knew it from the beginning. You, my dear, are _exactly like Charles._" Magneto said with a cruel grin. "…_predictable_."

Taryn's jaw dropped in shock. He had expected this from the beginning, that someone would come and try to be _noble, _and that the rest of Xavier's lapdogs would leap to their aid. He'd _known _what they would do, just not _when_…but he'd been ready for it…

There was no time to think – Magneto's old followers had obviously not lost allegiance. They pounced immediately upon John and Taryn as Magneto stood back and laughed as the nearby civilians scattered, screaming as statues came crashing to the ground, leaving the air filled with an ugly, brown-grey dust.

The commotion didn't go unnoticed. The others came as quickly as they could, rushing in just as they had gotten Taryn cornered.

Wolverine ran and slashed her attacker from behind, the blood gleaming on his claws as the figure crumpled to the ground. Taryn gave him a curt yet grateful nod and moved onward, only to be grabbed from behind by another assailant, and hurled forward, landing hard on a piece of debris. Taryn rolled over onto her side and spit out a bit of blood, forcing herself to stand up again. She grounded herself, and focused solely on her attacker. The man flew high into the sky, then crashed down into the ground so hard that it left a shallow crater where he'd landed, mangled and obviously quite _broken_. "Gravity can be a _bitch_." Taryn smirked, wiping at her bloody lip and kicking over his body so as not to have to see his now-misshapen face.

Meanwhile, Angel had grabbed hold of the broken fragment of a collapsed wall and hurled it hard at one of their opponents – he wasn't sure which – pinning him underneath. Suddenly, the remainder of their assailants disappeared.

"Multiple, check," Taryn said, coming up behind him with a slight smile. She glanced at around, and found that Magneto had disappeared. She turned to the rest of the team, all with varying degrees of minor injuries, and said loudly, "It's time bail, yeah?"

They started heading back to the jet, then noticed that Taryn was lagging behind sulkily. They paused and looked at her.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," she sighed in choked voice. Her adrenaline rush from the fight had worn off, and she was just now feeling the guilt which accompanied the fact that this was because of _her…_"And I fucked up."

"Royally." John said.

"It happens," one of them said. Surprisingly, it was Logan. "We make bad choices, kid. That's why the _team's _there to clean it up."

"Easy for you to say," Taryn snapped. "You didn't just give our _arch nemesis _back his powers and _then _sit down for a game of chess with him."

"Look, it's over with, okay?" Rogue piped in, somehow both chidingly and consolingly. "We do what we've gotta do, and we get it done right. No questions."

Taryn glanced at her. "_We do what we've gotta do,_" she repeated in somewhat of a mocking tone, "Well, you guys shouldn't have to clean up after me—"

"Just quit with the self-pity." Wolverine snapped, waving them along. They started walking again. "If we did that every time we made a mistake in our plans, we wouldn't have time to do anything _but _apologize. So just drop it, okay?"

Taryn shut her mouth, and they trudged back to the jet.

As they all filed in, Warren placed his hand on Taryn's shoulder. "Can I talk to you before we leave?" he asked. Taryn glanced around, waited for everyone else to board, and then nodded. She and Warren walked off slightly, which didn't go unnoticed.

"Listen, what I said about choosing _neither _of you—"

"I don't want you to _pick one of us _like you're under a time limit or something.' Warren interrupted. "It's just that—"

"We should go back." Taryn said quickly, not feeling comfortable with the intimacy of the situation.

"You want to get back to John—"

"I just wanna go _home_." Taryn said pointedly. She sighed, and turned around to leave.

"I want you to choose me," Warren said, making Taryn turn back to him. "I won't lie, he said, turning slightly red and scratching the nape of his neck slightly. "It doesn't even have to be _now_. I just thought you oughta know…"

Taryn stepped up to him and looked into his eyes. "I don't know what to tell you," she said honestly, "Except that I don't want to hurt you."

"Whatever you decide…" Warren replied earnestly. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, and they walked back to the jet. Taryn was surprisingly satisfied by this talk she'd just had with him.

The jet ride back was relatively silent, and they landed without incident. Taryn still felt guilty, but knew better than to speak up. If anything, Logan would tell her to shut up again. Even _Rogue _would now.

Back at the school, Taryn and Rogue started walking back to their dorm room when John cleared is throat. Taryn looked at him blankly.

"So," he said matter-of-factly, "How about we talk _now_?" Taryn sighed in resignation and began walking off in the other direction with him.

She felt strange thinking it, but the thought the way the pink light from the setting sun hit his face through the window made him look _sweet_, the way it highlighted the earnest expression on his face. He looked almost plagued by what he thought about saying to her.

"What happened out there with you and Angel?" he asked, shaking Taryn slightly out of her state of awe.

"We talked." She shrugged.

"Just talked?" John asked. He didn't sound accusing, or menacing. But it upset Taryn nonetheless.

"Yes, John, we _talked_." She snapped at him. "You know, that thing we only did when we were _fighting—_"

"I'm not big on all that Maury, Dr. Phil, 'share-your-feelings' crap—"

"Well, I _am—_"

"_Well, _I'm _trying _to talk to you now, and you're not even trying to listen—"

"Fine." Taryn said, crossing her arms. "Start talking."

This caught John off guard. He'd been prepared to argue with Taryn. He'd been ready to scream if that's what she started doing. But he hadn't been ready for him to actually let him have his say – how _could _he have been prepared? No one, in his eyes, had ever let him have his fair say before.

"I—" he cut himself off. _Shit,_ he thought, _I suck at this._ "I don't get what's going on." He admitted. "It's like I've been away a million years or something. I was a jerk to everybody while I was here…even to you. But I mean…You can't say I didn't work hard to keep us together."

Taryn sighed. He was right, of course. He'd been pressured to break up with Taryn by nearly everyone, for _her _sake, because everyone thought _she _was too good for _him_."

"I messed up." John continued. "I tried to take the easy way out, and then I tried to drag you with me, but—" he paused, noticing that Taryn was listening intently, actually _listening. _This shook him up quite a bit. "It wasn't because I wanted to hurt you or anything." He said honestly. Taryn glanced around, looking dissatisfied. "_I came back_." John said desperately. "That's gotta mean something, right?"

Taryn stared blankly at her shoe, trying to formulate a response that she hadn't been ready to give. Not yet. "I _wanted _to wait for you." She said quietly. "I _wanted _to look for you, and to drag you back here when you left, and make you realize that _I _was the most important thing to you…and then _Warren _shows up, and he makes me feel _different_."

"Different?" John said.

"Different from how I ever felt with you." She said quietly. "I felt _safe._"

"You were _safe _with me," John said desperately. Taryn just gave a pained laugh at this and looked him in the eye, condescendingly yet somehow compassionately.

"We're _mutants, _John." She said matter-of-factly. "Since when are we safe _anywhere?_"

* * *

_A/N - Woot. Super-fast update, huh? This entire scene, namely, the meeting with Magneto, took a completely different turn than how I had originally written it. At first, it was a peaceful encounter, with Magneto caught entirely by surprise. But old Mags is smarter than that, obviously. Plus, I had Taryn deciding to take one of the boys (I won't say which one) with her for back-up, as opposed to the whole team._

_As a whole, I'm actually pretty satisfied with this chapter, although the violence, upon rereading it, is kinda graphic. But you know, gotta keep it real!_

_I'm going to be busy for the next few days, so don't expect another really fast update -- early next week, at the soonest. But REVIEW! Even if -- ESPECIALLY if you haven't reviewed before. I like hearing new input. _

_And don't be scared to leave suggestions -- I won't alter my plotted-out storyline radically, but I'll take what you guys want to see into consideration; surprisingly, a lot of the stuff people suggest actually fits right in to stuff I've already written._

_Ok. Enough rambling. Review. NOW._

_...please? Haha._


	10. Chapter 10

"Wake up, kid." Logan said roughly, prodding Taryn awkwardly as she lay in bed, still tangled up in my covers.

"Don't wanna," she grumbled, blindly throwing a pillow in the direction of his voice. Logan rolled his eyes. He did _not _enjoy dealing with these teenagers sometimes. _Especially _when they were being lazy.

"Storm says we have a visitor requesting all of us to meet in the office." He said pointedly. Taryn opened her eyes and rubbed them, looking at Logan skeptically.

"So we're gonna try to pack the whole school into the office—"

"Not the whole school, Sleeping Beauty," Logan snapped, "Just us."

"Who's us?" Taryn asked, attempting to raise an eyebrow just as John always did, but only managed to raise both, looking quite silly and rather confused. Logan allotted himself a small chuckle at this.

"The X-Men," Logan said matter-of-factly. _This _woke Taryn up.

"You mean…but I'm not –"

"You're one of us, now, kid." He said, in a tone warmer than that to which Taryn was accustomed him using towards her. "Now get up before we change our minds." And with that, he left the room, while Taryn rolled groggily out of bed and got ready.

In about ten minutes, Taryn deemed herself presentable and walked out into the hallway, where she proceeded to run right into John, who, as it seemed, had obviously been waiting for her.

"So they woke you up for this too," she said with a slight shrug. "C'mon, they'll be on our asses for ages if we take any longer."

They went down to what had once been Professor Xavier's study, where they found the rest of the X-Men waiting, along with a woman in a stark white lab coat, accompanied by a man in a wheelchair who kept his back turned. The woman, however, Taryn had seen before. She was a doctor that Taryn recognized from television, but a name didn't come quickly to mind…

"This is Doctor Moira MacTaggart." Storm said, referring to the woman.

_That's it._ Taryn thought. With that mystery aside, she turned her attention to the figure in the wheelchair, which did not go unnoticed by the lady doctor.

"I believe that the young lady has caught on to something?" she said, nodding warmly towards Taryn.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said, blushing slightly at being acknowledged. "But…" she paused and made eye contact with Moira, who maintained a slightly creepy, knowing smile. "If you don't mind me asking, who is that you brought with you?"

"You ask too many questions," John said with a yawn and a stretch, earning a poignantly annoyed look from everyone else in the room, except for Taryn, who held eye contact with Moira.

"I was hoping you'd ask," she replied, her smile widening. Then, she pivoted her head slightly towards the turned figure. "If you would turn around, Charles."

There was a collective gasp as the chair turned around, revealing Professor Charles Xavier, looking slightly more pale, if that was possible, tired, but otherwise in apparent good health. After the shock, each individual response varied. Logan let out a slightly undignified noise, which could have been mistaken for either a cough or a snort; Storm silently allowed her jaw to drop, running her hand through her white hair, all the while unable to blink or avert her gaze. Taryn spun around and covered her eyes as if she'd seen a ghost after letting out a disbelieving "_Oh my God,_" running almost headfirst into Rogue, who caught her and got her back on her feet. John, for perhaps the first time anyone in the room was aware of, had absolutely nothing to say, and if he had still been surgically attached to his Zippo lighter, he would have nonetheless dropped it in his astonishment; Warren cleared his throat and attempted to maintain his composure, albeit staring in complete shock. Bobby glanced around uncomfortably and ran his hand over his head, not sure how to react.

"I take it I've been missed," he said with a slight smile. "And I'm very sincerely touched by that. But I am, however, quite glad that you all have learned from me and run the school so well in my absence."

"We're just glad that you're back," Storm said tearily.

"I believe that quite a bit of commendation is in order for one among us," The Professor said. They all glanced around at one another, not completely sure what the Professor was talking about, but most of them had somewhat of an idea. "Taryn, what you did, going to find Magneto, was quite noble of you."

"Noble?" Taryn said with a dark laugh. "It was stupid. I brought back the worst thing that every happened to any of us." At this, John gave a slightly pained looked that went unnoticed by everyone except for Warren, who gave him a brief glare through narrowed eyes.

"It still stands," Charles continued in a comfortingly sincere tone, "that you returned to a man in full measure the one thing he has always lived for."

"I did something _stupid_." She insisted. Xavier realized that, for the time being, there would be no changing her mind, and found it best to address the rest of the group. After a few more words with all of them, consisting of quite a few tearful "_Welcome back_"'s, he dismissed them, keeping Taryn behind to have a few more words with her.

"Juno," he said, referring to her by her mutant name for one of the few times ever, "You've grown so much in so little time, and there are barely words to describe the pride I possess in your progress, both mentally and with your mutation."

"Thanks," Taryn muttered quietly.

"_However_," the Professor continued, "Things have died down for the time being, and perhaps the time has come to remember that, regardless of how much you've grown, you are still _young_."

Taryn stared at him as though he had just poured a glass of ice cold water down her back.

"Enjoy your life." The Professor said simply. "And that's an _order_, Miss Lawson."

With an awkward but still appreciative smile, Taryn nodded. The Professor motioned towards the door, signaling that it was finally fine for her to leave. She gave a deep, heaving breath and stepped out the door. However, she found that she had someone waiting for her.

"John." Taryn said with a slight nod, still reeling from the Professor's advice.

"Hey," he said, awkwardly cracking his neck and toeing the ground. "Do you think we could go for a walk or something?"

"A walk?"

"Yeah, you know," John shrugged, "I think you kinda got the wrong idea from the last time we talked and stuff."

"And stuff." Taryn repeated with a laugh. She nodded towards the downstairs exit door amicably. "Come on."

The two of them walked out silently, glancing at one another on occasion while keeping their hands in their pockets. They went outside and walked around the garden, by the basketball courts, and stopped on the walkway over the pond as John started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Taryn asked with an amused look.

"You don't remember where we are?" he asked, gesturing outwards. "We were standing here when we first met." Taryn grinned, thinking back about maybe three years…

* * *

_John and Bobby were standing on opposite sides of the walkway on the pond one afternoon, just two days after John had first arrived at the school. He had been eyeing a certain Bobby Drake ever since he had first walked into the classroom – overly competitive, maybe, but still, all in good fun._

_"C'mon big shot, I wanna see what you can do!" John called out to the curly-haired boy on the opposite side._

_Bobby lifted his hands passively and shook his head. "Listen, new guy—"_

_"The name's John."_

_"Okay, **John**," Bobby said patronizingly. "I don't need to prove myself to anybody—"_

_"You're scared!" John taunted in a singsong voice._

_"No way!" Bobby said, finally giving in and forming orbs of ice in his hands. "Let's—"_

_"Are you two **trying **to get in trouble?" said a female voice, which belonged to a small girl with her shiny brown hair tied back into a high, tight ponytail with long bangs tickling her face in the breeze. "Because if you are, it better wait until I get inside."_

_Bobby rolled his eyes, good-natured but still obviously ruffled. "You don't need to boss everybody around," He muttered as he walked off._

_"Aww, cool it, Ice Man!" Taryn laughed at his distancing back. She jumped slightly when the other boy came up behind her and nudged her in the shoulder. As he laughed, he held out his hand._

_"John," he nodded as she shook his outstretched palm. With his free left hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Zippo lighter emblazoned with a shark, flipping it open and causing a tongue of flame to shoot out, dance a circle around Taryn, and sink back into the lighter. "**Pyro**."_

_"Killer," Taryn replied with a smile, eyeing the lighter with quite a bit of interest. "New here?"

* * *

_

"Man…" Taryn laughed, looking back up at the present day John, who was laughing at the goofy grin on her face. "If somebody would've told me that we'd be like this right now, way back then…"

"I remember how you got insanely jealous when Rogue first got here." John smirked.

"_Insanely jealous_?" Taryn repeated incredulously. "You were showing off!"

"We weren't even _together_ yet!" John said through almost side-splitting laughter. "But we were the day _after_."

"I still remember the look on everyone's face when they first found out." Taryn laughed quietly, then added with a slightly melancholy face, "They gave us two weeks, tops."

"You okay?" John asked, tilting her chin up to look him in the eye.

Taryn moved backwards, away from him, and looked away uncomfortably. "When did everything get so messed up?" she asked quietly. John shuffled his foot on the ground, not quite sure of what to say. "So, Magneto's back." Taryn said, finally gathering up the courage to mention it to him. "Are you gonna pack up and leave again?" John looked up at her and rolled his shoulders. "Well, _are _you?"

"I thought about it," John said honestly. Taryn let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair, which was still slightly messy from being woken so abruptly. "I don't want to go this time."

"If I wasn't here, what would you have decided to do?" Taryn asked, crossing her arms.

"What does it matter? You _are _here." John said, cautiously stepping forward and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I don't really know what I'm supposed to do, but I'm gonna figure out how to do it. And I'm gonna be everything you want." He looked Taryn in the eye, then looked away quickly, turning away from her. "Everything that _Angel _already is."

"John, don't talk like that." She said, moving closer to him so that her face was barely an inch away from his shoulder. He flinched slightly. This was the first time she'd gotten that close to him since he'd come back and hadn't yelled in his face. With a short but insistent nudge, she turned him around and looked at him. "I never asked you for more than you could give."

John was floored. He stared at her, opening and closing his mouth, trying to find words, finding nothing could come out. Taryn smirked slightly at this, and suddenly, it was like _old times_. She caught him off guard, being all cute and sweet, and he didn't know what to say, except for…

"Taryn, I love you."

Taryn's eyes went round as saucers. "_What?_" she said, stepping back.

"I _love _you." John repeated, thinking that he might as well, seeing as he couldn't take it back, even if he wanted to. "You know that." He stepped forward, grabbing her hands, and slowly began inclining his head down to hers. He hadn't kissed her in _months. _And for a moment, it seemed as if she was going up on her toes to kiss him back –

Suddenly, with a very awkward, jerky movement, she pushed him away, shoving him off of the walkway, and into the pond, gasping through her hands, "_I can't do this_." She looked at him, sputtering in waist-deep water, and said, "Whatever we had, it's _over_. I'm—" she paused, right before finishing her apology, and stared at him. "No. I'm not the one who should be sorry."

And she ran off to find Warren, leaving a very confused, and very wet John Allerdyce in the pond, dragging himself out

* * *

Meanwhile, Angel was sitting in living room with the other X-Men, all of them doing various things, including eating, playing pool, foosball, watching TV. He noticed Taryn come running in, looking very out of breath, and rush straight up to him.

"Taryn, are you okay?" He said, placing his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Did something—"

"I choose you!" she blurted suddenly, which caused everyone to drop what they were doing and stare, all with different expressions on their faces, ranging from shock, to amusement, to elation. Warren gaped at her slightly, his puzzled expression raising a very amused smile onto Taryn's face. "Yeah," she panted, "Warren, I want to be with _you_."

"What about Pyro?" he asked, trying to mask the smile on his face.

"I got the closure I needed," Taryn said, shaking her head. For a second, both of them beamed at each other, savoring the moment before the rest of the people in the room began buzzing around them. Taryn and Warren found that the crowd had pulled them off separately to talk to them about this new arrangement.

"Bobby!" Taryn said, seeing him in the crowd. "I haven't gotten a chance to talk to you in a while…How's everything with Rogue?"

"Shaky," he shrugged. "But we're working it out. She said she wanted to talk to me today. Maybe things are gonna get better faster than we think."

Meanwhile, Rogue had finally gotten Warren aside.

"So, Angel," she said with a slight laugh. "Looks like you've finally landed the quite coveted Taryn Lawson." Warren reddened slightly and chuckled at how Rogue had put it. "You couldn't have made a better choice," Rogue continued, "But she can be a wild one – it's what everybody loves about her."

"And I'd never try to change her," Warren said, spotting that Taryn was finally free and walking over to her.

"Do we get to see a big kiss?" Jubilee taunted loudly. Taryn looked at the younger girl and rolled her eyes.

"I don't mind," Warren said with a grin. Taryn looked at him, and without hesitation, kissed him quite soundly, much to the appreciation of the other teenagers in the room. She pulled away after a good ten seconds, just barely glimpsing a very _wet _figure walking through the main door, up the stairs, and out of sight. A pang of guilt hit her –

"Are you all right?" Warren asked quietly so no one could hear.

"Yeah, just tired." Taryn said, shaking her head dismissively. She yelped loudly in surprise when Warren swept her off of her feet.

"Then get some rest, missy," he laughed, unfurling his wings and swooping her up the stairs and to her dorm room door. "A midday nap won't hurt you." He grinned, kissing her on the cheek and walking off as she opened her door and slumped onto the bed inside.

In a few minute, Rogue walked in and sat with a '_harumph'_ onto her own bed. She looked over at Taryn and managed a tired smile. "So, congratulations,"

"Yeah, thanks." Taryn sighed. She noticed how down Rogue looked. "Something the matter?"

"Bobby and I are split." Rogue said simply, picking at a tendril of her long hair. She noticed Taryn's pitying expression and forced another smile. "Oh, no, I broke it off with him." Rogue explained. "Bobby'd never say anything, but I know that neither of us were happy anymore."

"I really thought you two were going to work it out," Taryn said.

"Oh, quit being such a downer!" Rogue said, sitting up. "You're supposed to be happy!"

"Oh yeah," Taryn said quietly, unable to rid her mind of the image of John walking in, just as everyone was cheering on Taryn and Warren's first real, official kiss. "What if I'm not doing the right thing? John _needs _me—"

"You can be there for him without being _with _him." Rogue pointed out.

"He won't _let _me—"

"He'll take you any way he can have you," Rogue said knowingly. "He loves you, and everybody knows that. But you can't help it if he's not the one who makes you happy."

"I feel like a selfish _bitch_," Taryn said with an ironic smile. "Maybe I should've waited longer, until he got himself straight."

"You would've been lying," Rogue said. "And that would've made it harder on both of you."

"All of this could've been avoided if he could just _hate _me and forgot that I even existed," Taryn said. "But I know he won't."

"It'll turn out fine." Rogue assured. Taryn glanced at her skeptically.

"Yeah, _sure._"

* * *

_A/N_

_Yikes, been a while since I've updated. Almost a month, huh? Guh. Been dealing with stuff lately, but I'm better now! _

_You know, I just noticed how funny 'Taryn and Warren' sound together. They rhyme!_

_**Green Bird, **I swear, sometimes I think you've read my story before I even put it up. I won't divulge much, because it would ruin the good stuff, but I'm going to say that I hope you like how I work Gambit into the story. Suffice it to say that when he does come thundering in, it won't be exactly as in the comic, but it's not going to be a smooth transition for anybody. _

_Also, since my reviewers have been SO awesome, I've decided to give a few hints over the course and let you guys play around with them in your heads and try to predict what's gonna happen._

_Hint Numero Uno: There will be a brief appearance by the Four Horsemen in a later chapter. And by later, I mean a while from now. Because, if you know about the Horsemen, arrangements have to be made in order to acquire Death… _

_Review, please? And I won't be so slow with the updates this time!_


	11. Chapter 11

Having the Professor back was strange. People didn't just die, and then come back, and die…and then…

Suffice it to say that the students were all confused to no end, albeit pleased that perhaps some order had been restored to the school. Things would have exploded into quite a bit of panic with the events of the past few days.

Apparently, Magneto's return had strayed even farther from Taryn's original vision, and things were once again looking down for the mutant community as a whole.

"This _problem_," said a rather uptight-looking assemblyman appearing on the five o'clock news one day, "is never-ending. Either we find a solution to sate these _things _in whatever their vendetta may be, or we eradicate the problem. The latter of these two options, even given the current situation, is not plausible at the time being, but, should circumstances elevate –"

Taryn shut off the TV, then hurled the remote towards the other side of the room. Some of the others she had been matching the news with, mostly older students, seeing as the material would be too sensitive for the young ones, reacted similarly.

"This is pathetic," Bobby said, restraining himself to an armchair. He glanced at Rogue, half-hoping she'd be looking at him, acknowledging him, but with no such luck, He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, which didn't go unnoticed, but still garnered no reaction.

"Only in America," John chuckled sarcastically.

"Oh, real appropriate," Rogue snapped back at him.

"Hey, I can't help it if it's a new Great American pastime!" John continued, egging people on as always. "Playing baseball, eating pie, and _killing mutants—_"

"Shut up, alright?" Taryn said loudly, glaring at him. She was still feeling guilty, now more than ever, because if she hadn't brought Magneto back – a pointed glance from Rogue kept Taryn from finishing off the thought. Rogue seemed to have taken Taryn's advice to heart. Even if she was upset about things, she seemed more _alive _now.

"It isn't only like that here," Colossus, né Piotr Rasputin, added in, breaking the tense silence. "My sister, Illyana, says things are just as bad at home."

"Oh, yeah, _encouraging,_" John continued. "Times are shitty, but they could be worse! We could be in _Russia—_"

"Would you just shut the hell _up_?" Taryn snapped, standing up and storming out of the room. John felt horrible for letting his mouth run again, but he masked it with a snide smirk.

"Good thing _Angel _isn't up yet to go chase after the drama queen," he chuckled, receive glares from everyone in the room.

"You're going out to get her." Rogue said pointedly, narrowing her eyes at him. John, knowing that a stupid remark at the moment may cost him a limb, rolled his eyes and obliged.

He trudged outside despondently. "Taryn," he called out. "Taryn!"

No answer.

He glanced around, and stood rather still. Was she ignoring him? In a situation like this, she'd usually be itching for a chance to tell him off. Suddenly, he caught two voices around the corner wall, one male and one female.

"Figures." He muttered. "Cupcaking with Angel this early –"

It only took him another second to realize that the male voice didn't belong to Warren, and that whoever it _did _belong to wasn't exactly selling Girl Scout cookies. He peered round the corner, and decided to keep silent until the right moment.

"I'd come quietly if I were you," said the male voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Taryn said in a low voice.

"Does it matter?" the man laughed. "You're coming with me –"

Taryn made a fist and threw it in a slamming motion toward the ground, expecting him to fly headfirst into the grass, only to find that he didn't budge. The man smirked. Then, he made the exact same motion, sending Taryn plowing into the ground.

"Anything you can do, I can do better," he chuckled evilly as Taryn staggered back to her feet. She was about to give it another try when she noticed the stranger look out past her shoulder. She herself turned around and stared in horror at John, who now was pinned to the ground, as if by an invisible weight. She glared back at the nameless man.

"You and _your friend_ are coming with me." He lifted them both into the air, and sent them crashing to the ground, unconscious. "And I don't take 'no' for an answer."

* * *

Taryn awoke to the sensation of something dripping onto her head. She rubbed her eyes and sat up sorely, glancing around. She saw cement bricks. A window. Bars caked in ice & snow. They were obviously somewhere cold.

Yeah, that helped.

"Dammit." She groaned. "Where am I?" She attempted to lean backward when she realized that whatever she had been lying on earlier was now moving. "John?"

"Where the hell are we, huh?" he grumbled.

"Oh, gee, let me go check the map!" Taryn muttered sarcastically. She looked at him again, and noticed a large knot on his head, livid red and purple with unsightly blood spots. "You okay?" she asked, reaching out towards him.

"_Fine._" He snapped, swatting her hand away. Taryn rolled her eyes at him.

"You don't have to be such an ass, I was just checking.  
"Oh, please…" John groaned. "You're not fucking _Florence Nightingale—_"

"Just shut the hell up and let me look at it!" Taryn growled in exasperation. John put his hands up in surrender and submitted to Taryn gently grazing her fingers over it, wincing when she ran over a sore spot. "It's pretty ugly…"

"You think?" John retorted.

Without responding, Taryn stood up and went under the window. Closing her eyes in concentration, she lifted herself up towards the high window and wriggled her hand through the tiny gap between the bars, pulling it back in with a handful of sand. She got herself back on the ground, and proceeded to put a small amount of it onto John's forehead. When he saw her coming at him with it, he started leaning out of the way.

"Hold still, for fuck's sake!" Taryn snapped.

"Some polar bear could have just taken in a piss in that snow!" John said, almost hysterically. "Didn't think about that, _did you_?"

"Last time I checked, piss was _yellow_." Taryn sneered at him, holding up the handful of slowly melting, absolutely white snow. "Plus, people piss on jellyfish stings, and they turn out fine—"

"Am I interrupting something?" said a voice behind the bars. Taryn and john both turned around and looked up to see the face of their kidnapper leering at them from above. "The name's Drop Force—"

"Real creative," John said with a snort. Drop Force glared at him, waved his hand, and sent him falling forward to the ground, hitting the already painful knot on his head.

"Don't toss him around, you dick!" Taryn yelled, much to John's surprise. "We're only here because of me—"

"_Correct_, miss." He smirked. "I require your cooperation." Taryn leaned back, prepared for an evil rant. John rolled his eyes. He'd heard his fair share of these with Magneto. "For ages, people have tried to destroy their _superiors, _merely because they fear their own weakness. And now, the time has come to create a race of people who are _worthy _of controlling this world –"

"Déjà vu," John muttered.

"We must purge ourselves of our oppressors—"

"No thanks." Taryn interrupted, and then added sarcastically, "How are you planning to _purge yourself, _anyway? You don't look bulimic to me."

"Let's just say," Drop Force began with a wicked grin, "that I plan on seeing who among us can _take the heat_." He gave a condescending wink at his hostages. "Think on it." And with that, he swept away, leaving Taryn deep in thought.

"What was that all about?" John asked in confusion, rubbing his head.

Taryn paused, still thinking, then gave a gasp in realization. "The sun!" She said in hoarse whisper. "Of course! He's going to pull the Earth as close as he can to the sun. into its orbit, to destroy the humans—"

"That'll fry us too." John pointed out. Taryn rolled her eyes and glared at him.

"_Obviously_." She said shortly. 'The guy's delusional." She let out a breath and looked at John sincerely. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this because of me. He was after _me—_"

"I bet you're glad that at least I'm the one who has a big fucking lump on his forehead, instead of your pretty-boy boyfriend—"

"I'm trying to apologize!" Taryn snapped. John snorted derisively and turned away from her, and Taryn could tell that he was still hurting from her choice. "Look," she said quietly. "No matter what you think, I didn't pick Warren just to hurt you. I just…I couldn't do it anymore. You always asked so much from me—"

"Bull _shit_!" John interrupted, turning around right in her face and making her jump slightly. "Like what?"

Taryn sneered at him, and said in a high, whiny voice. "_Taryn, you're my girlfriend so you have to do what I say and follow me and agree with me and always bee on my side and agree with me and—_"

"Stop it!" John said loudly.

"Fine." Taryn said resolutely, then scooting over to sit against the wall. "You're so fucking _blind—_" she said, pounding her fist backwards against the cement block wall. In her frustration, she didn't notice something land with a clink onto the ground, out of a makeshift pocket in her sweatshirt sleeve. She only realized it when she saw John looking downward at a small, metal, rectangular object that landed on the ground next to her.

His lighter.

"Care to explain that?" he asked.

Taryn rolled her shoulders uncomfortably and picked it up, staring at the Zippo lighter with a shark design. "You dropped it in my room that one night when you tried to get me to leave." She said quietly.

"Still doesn't explain why it's in your pocket." John said, no longer sardonic or condescending, but genuinely wanting to know the answer.

Taryn looked up at him and sighed desperately. "I wanted to keep it, so sue me." She said in a single breath. "it's all I had left. When you went away…" she paused and looked down at the floor. "I already convinced myself that we didn't stand a cat in hell's chance. You don't even know—"

"Like hell, I don't know." John said, now kneeling in front of her with his hand on her knee, looking her straight in the eye. "I had to deal with it too. I _thought _I was doing the right thing—"

"Look, if it means so much to you, you can have the stupid thing!" she said, shoving the lighter forcefully into his hand. "It's not like I've got much use for it."

John paused and stared at it. There was a time when that thing had been the only thing he valued in the entire world. He glanced up at Taryn. "Thanks," he said, with a half-smile, which she returned for a moment, then looked away again. John daringly reached out for her hand again. "You're freezing." He said.

"It's kinda to be expected." She replied with a weak laugh.

"C'mere," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. She froze up and stared at him suspiciously. "I'm not trying to do anything." He said, resting his chin on her shoulder from behind. "I've missed you. _So sue me_."

"John, I'm gonna tell you this _one last time_," she said, leaning her head gently against his, though still considerably tense. "As far as I'm concerned, _no one _is better than you. I just…I can't handle us anymore."

John sighed and nodded. "We're gonna be okay," he said, trying to sound confident. "We're gonna get out of here.

"Like _you _know," she laughed quietly with a shot of sarcasm. "And I have a feeling things'll be _warming up _really soon…"

* * *

_A/N's_

_Le sigh._

_Not too many reviews this time around -- but the ones I did get really made my day! Well, yep, I know a few readers are going to be disappointed that Taryn and John were kidnapped and shoved in a cell together. But don't worry, it's just a temporary arrangement. I haven't forgotten that she picked Warren, don't worry. But John's territorial. You didn't think he was just going to give up, right?_

_Next chapter, we see how everyone at the school reacts when John and Taryn go missing, and we see the return of a few familiar faces, plus the story behind this new mutant, Drop Force, who so unceremoniously spirited our little friends away._

_And just to point something out -- I had a little too much fun with the line, "**Some polar bear could have just taken a piss in that snow!**"_


	12. Chapter 12

The X-Men all gathered in Professor Xavier's office upon noticing Taryn's absence – The Professor, Storm, Logan, Warren, Rogue, Piotr, Kitty, and, off more to the side, Bobby.

'Taryn wouldn't just pick and up leave, _especially _not with Pyro!" Warren said quite heatedly, a demeanor that most of the room's other occupants were unaccustomed to, coming from him.

Bobby was the first to speak up. "Well, it's not like we've got any other leads—"

"Why aren't we looking for her?" Warren interrupted.

"Listen, you think we'd be sitting around here makin' small talk if we had any idea where to start looking?" Logan said, standing up in front of Warren and attempting to stare him down.

Suddenly, Professor Xavier, who had been seated quietly, put his head up – only his eyes were glassy, a symptom, they knew, of him channeling the consciousness of another. He spoke, and the rest of them listened intently:

"_I have your students. They will be returned to you in one piece, provided that I receive Juno's full cooperation."_

And with that single statement, the Professor's eyes returned to normal.

"Corbin McGarridy," he said in a hushed voice. "He was a student here for a short period of time, until we found that his personal beliefs on mutant rights did not coalesce with the principles of this school—"

"So, he's like Magneto?" Rogue asked.

"_Worse_."

Everyone turned to look at the figure in the doorway – an old man in a cape and suit, with a familiar helmet clutched under his arm.

"Speak of the devil." Logan growled under his breath.

"_I _believe –" Magneto interrupted, striding into the room almost regally, "in doing what is necessary to defend our kind. _Drop Force, _however, is an advocate of more _preventative _measures."

"So what do you propose we do?" Storm asked, crossing her arms skeptically. They were all obviously wary of any sort of cooperation with Magneto.

"Find them." He replied simply.

"Oh, well _this _discussion was productive!" Rogue snapped sarcastically.

"Gravity." Magneto said, ignoring Rogue's outburst. "Much like magnetism—"

"You know, _Taryn _was the only one of us who was into all that physics stuff," Bobby said, "So how about you put this in _human speak_, for the ones who don't understand."

"Gravitational pull," Magneto said in an annoyed tone, as though he were speaking to a five-year-old, "is like a magnetic field in the sense that it is strongest at two opposing poles. Balance is retained by drawing each pole in an opposite direction. _However,_" he paused, glancing around poignantly, making sure none of them intended to interrupt, "If one force were to overpower the other – you could comprehend the _gravity _of that situation, I would hope."

"…Taryn's at the North Pole?" Kitty said. Magneto rolled his eyes condescendingly.

"I highly doubt it." He said. "Or we'd have a bit of a challenge thawing the girl out—"

"You're on the right track, Kitty," Xavier said reassuringly. "Corbin brought them as far North as possible, after finding that there was no location in the South which suited his purpose—"

"That doesn't explain why Pyro had to go along for the ride." Warren said gruffly.

"I don't think that matters." Rogue said. In all honesty, she was beginning to think that Warren was obnoxious, snobbish, and extremely overbearing. "We worry about getting them back first. _Both _of them."

"So who do we take?" Logan said.

"I'm going." Came a pandemonium of voice, resounding from all the younger inhabitants of the room.

"Oh, no, no, _no._" Logan said. "We don't need a whole damn brigade with us for a search and rescue—"

"Well, what do you _expect _us to do?" Bobby said.

"Yeah," Rogue said, leaving Bobby quite surprise that she was affirming what he'd said, "My roommate's out there, and I know if the tables were turned, she'd be out lookin' for me."

Logan looked around at the group of teenagers, then at Storm and Professor Xavier, who showed no sign of objection whatsoever; he sighed in resignation. "Suit up, then. Five minutes -- chop, chop!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------

John woke up, still in the damp, freezing cold cell, to see Taryn standing beneath the window, trying to focus her powers on something up above.

"What are you _doing_?" he asked groggily. Taryn had always been a morning person.

"If I get the bars on that window bent far down enough, they'll disconnect from the top, and maybe the opening'll be big enough to squeeze out through –"

"And _then _what, have a snowball fight?" Johm snapped sarcastically. Taryn turned around and glared at him

"_Then _maybe we'll stand a chance of being found." She snapped. "Those bars are adamantium. If we can get past them, the Professor may be able to pick up our location.

John shut up. She'd actually thought this through. _Like always_, he thought. He went over to her and grabbed her wrist – she was straining herself to hard for it being so early. "You're practically frozen in _here_." He said, shaking his head, 'Are you really gonna risk turning into a fucking _popsicle _out there?"

"I freeze to death either way," Taryn said, rubbing her arms and trying to heat herself with friction after John reminded her just how cold it was. "If anything, I'll die quicker out there –"

"Don't talk about that." John snapped uncomfortably. At that moment, Taryn managed to bend the bars so far back that they snapped, landing on the ground next to her with a clang. However, they hadn't bent far down enough, leaving frozen, jagged spires of metal blocking the way out. She look at John, who understood perfectly. He pulled out his lighter, then pulled Taryn close to him, covering her with his arm. "Keep covered, alright?" he said, silently reveling in the fact that, at his word, Taryn moved closer to him, pressing against his chest. He felt like a good guy for once, With a brief grin, he flicked open his lighter and sent a large burst of flame through the window.

After a good amount of time, he stopped the barrage and reluctantly let Taryn from under his arm. She looked up and grinned – the bars had completely melted away, leaving an open window just the right size to get through.

"C'mon, you first!" she said, pushing forward. She levitated him upwards, and his climbed through the hole. Once she was sure he had gotten through safely, Taryn lifted herself and went through as well.

Unfortunately, John hadn't moved _away _from the hole, and she ended up plowing right into his back. They both tumbled over and landed off of the window ledge and into the snow, with John tangled up on top of Taryn.

"Cozy." He said with a smirk. Taryn rolled her eyes, but still smiled.

"Alright, move your ass," she laughed, shoving him upward, only to find that he wouldn't move. Instead, he just stared at her.

"One kiss." He said simply. "C'mon, live a little. One kiss, and if we live through this, I'll throw in the towel."

Taryn looked at him skeptically, but found she couldn't resist the chance. _What's the harm in it if I end up dying out here anyway_?

She took her face in her frail, cold hands and pulled it to hers, giving a sound, yet surprisingly chaste kiss on the lips. Then, she let go and looked at him – and realize that after granting his request for _one kiss_, she wanted nothing more than to kiss him again. She shook her head forcefully and shoved him off, getting to her feet.

"You have no idea how bad you confuse me." She said.

"So…where do we go?" John asked. He wasn't going to press her any further – more for his own sake, because he knew how she got when she was angry.

"Let's try over there," Taryn said, gesturing to a cluster of large ice mounds on the other side of a frozen lake. She and John began walking. "I wonder why Drop Force never came back after last night?"

"Maybe he was just waiting to see if he could starve you into submission/" John suggested. Taryn looked at him, smirked, and rolled her eyes.

_Same old John…_

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, the jet was finally drawing farther north – Professor Xavier had picked up on two brain signals in the Far North, and had directed them where to go.

"You sure she's here?" Warren said, staring out the window.

"The Professor said _they _were in the vicinity." Storm said shortly.

"They're on the move." The Professor said, then suddenly, "Storm, fly lower."

"What? We might be seen—"

"Fly lower." He repeated. Storm did as she was told. "Don't fly too high here. The jet may overheat—"

"It appears that McGarridy has found away to put his plan into action without your lost lamb's assistance." Magneto said snidely. "Where did you track him to when you channeled him?"

The Professor paused, then a look of apprehension – almost _terror_ – crossed his face. "_Jamaica Bay_…"

--------------------------------------------------------------------

_A/N's_

_So, readers, does anyone remember the significance of Jamaica Bay:wink:_

_I have some fun stuff planned for our friends in the next few chapters. But it might get a little confusing, so read the next chapter VERY carefully, especially at the end._


	13. Chapter 13

Taryn and John were still wandering around -- their fingers, to their most pleasant surprise, hadn't yet turned blue. Taryn, however, refused to walk alongside John at the moment, her brow furrowed in a mix of annoyance and restraint. They were walking over the frozen lake, the only walking space that was clear enough to walk through.

"You know," Taryn said quietly, "It's not really as cold as it was earlier. I thought that --"

"TARYN!"

John yelled loudly as the smaller girl went crashing through the ice -- it was slowly, slowly melting away beneath them.

"John!" Taryn shrieked, thrashing wildly in the freezing cold water, which felt at least ten times colder than the air above it.

He knelt down by the large crack in the ice, trying to swipe up her hand with his his, and failing miserably. "Don't go under- just stay up --"

"I _can't_!" Taryn shrieked, cut off by a slight gurgle as some water passed over her mouth.

"Taryn--"

John was interrupted, however, by the sound of jet turbines above him as the Blackbird stopped, just feet above them. John was plucked from the ground, an Taryn out if the water by an unseen force, and pulled into the jet.

Immediately, everyone on board began doting terribly over Taryn, whose lips had begun to discolor from the cold. Warren in particular knocked rather unceremoniously past everyone, kneeling down next to her as she coughed slightly and forced herself to sit.

"You!" Warren said, turning accusingly towards John and beginning to round on her. "You let this happen to her --"

"Warren, stop." Taryn snapped, grabbing hold of the crook of his arm and pulling him firmaly backwards, away from John -- neither knew quite how to react. She'd just _protected_ John, the same John she'd pushed away just days before. "He tried to help me --"

"You scared the living daylights outta me," Warren said, changing track abruptly as he turned to face her, cupping her face with his hands. Behind his back, John couldn't resist a snigger at his watered-down, all-American-boy cliche.

"Well," Taryn laughed quietly, "I was pretty scared myself."

"Taryn." came a voice from behind everyone. She turned around and found the Professor waiting to speak to her. She obediently backed a respectable distance from Warren and awaited whatever he had to say. "I need you to focus and teel me if you sense anything wrong."

Taryn blinked in a mild bout of confusion, then understood his directions. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a few moments, trying to detect any sign of disturbance. "Something..." she muttered. "Drop Force, he -- I can't quite -- ugh, I'm _useless_!" she groaned, opening her eyes and throwing her hands up in exasperation. They needed her to be able to know what the man was doing, and she couldn't even do that. She ran her hands through her hair, giving it a stressed tug at the roots near her forehead, beginning to pace.

"Taryn." Xavier said in an authoritative tone, causing her to snap back into some level of composure. "This is of utmost importance. Now, I need you to focus."

Taryn nodded, closing her eyes and beathing again, tryng to expand her consciousness of her powers to a consciousness of everything around her. She felt herself regain the metaphorical grasp over her abilities that Xavier had always taught her, and slowly, the sensations began to clearly focus and process.

"Drop Force," she said quietly. Attention in the jet was rapt upon her. "Drop Force is bringing the planet closer to the sun with every minute." She opened her eyes slowly, brow furrowed in concern. "He's doing it without me -- I don't understand. If he could do it on his own, why did he bother bringing me --"

"Perhaps," Magneto said, clearing his throat and drawing his attention to his spot in the back of the jet, "This particular turn of events is relevant to Mr. McGarridy's excursion to Jamaica Bay. When's the last you've heard of your friend, Jean Grey?"

"She's dead." Taryn replied quickly. "She's _dead_."

"Legends speaks of an indestructible entity known as the Fiery Phoenix," Magneto continued, appearing not to heed Taryn's reaction. "Stronger than any human, any mutant, stronger even than death and reality itself --"

"No way!" Taryn burst out, forcing herself to her feet, not an easy task with the wobbling motion of the jet -- this information was more than she was willing to stomach. If this really _was_ Jean Grey, she would never destroy the world she loved so dearly. They'd lost her, their encounter with the Phoenix was over... "She can't just -- she wouldn't --"

"That body cannot be destroyed," Magneto said, glancing pointedly at the shocked, blubbering young girl. " It is the chosen host of the Phoenix, a force that is neither good nor evil."

"Dr. Grey's still in there, then?" John interrupted, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Somewhere, _yes._" Magneto replied. "Deeply suppressed, most likely irretrievable."

At that moment, the jet landed at the location which Charles had pinpointed the energy to be originating from. As the door opened, everyone began filing out, except for Taryn, who had sat back down on the floor of the jet.

"This is _insane_!" she said in a slightly desperate voice. "I don't want to be an _X-Man _anymore, I just want to be a person! People don't just

die and come back and die and come back and die and --"

Warren took a step towards her, attempting to coax her out of the jet. "Taryn --"

"I won't go!"

"We need you," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling gently. "We need all the help we can get --"

"She's not ready for it, you idiot." John said in his normal, stony tone. He walked back into the jet, swiping a set of communicators off of the supply wall and handing Taryn one of them. He was going in -- whether they wanted him to or not. If anything, he'd prove to _Taryn_ that he wasn't a villain. "Take this." he said quietly. "If anything happens, I'll come running back for you, I swear."

Taryn paused for a moment, letting his words sink in as she locked eyes with him. She gave him a tight hug, then stepped back. "I know you will," she said quietly as he back away. She watched as the rest of the team rushed off into the distance. Only when they were out of sight did Taryn turn around and realize that Warren had remained behind. "It's not what you think," she said quietly.

"I thought you chose me?" he asked, shifting his weight as his expression narrowed, as if he'd in the last few seconds become completely lost.

"I _did_! I'm _with_ you!" Taryn said in a shrill, defensive voice. "But I can't throw John completely out of my life --"

"I don't want to have to constantly be competing with him for your attention --"

"You don't need to _compete_ with him," Taryn said in exasperation. "You're amazing. Everything you _are_ knocks me off of my feet -- but when I was with John, that was when I actually figured out who I _am_ --"

"That's not who you are anymore, Taryn," Warren said, stepping towards her and placing his hands bracingly on her shoulders.

"If only that were true," Taryn laughed sadly, shaking her head. She pushed away from him slightly and began pacing back and forth silently, not allowing him to get any closer to her. She didn't speak again for a good few minutes. "Being a mutant has ruined _everything_. I could've had a better life. My parents would've loved me. I could have gone to high school and done normal things that --"

Taryn was interrupted by a crackling noise from the communicator in her hand, and she jmped slightly, nearly dropping it. She lifted it to her face and pressed the button, calling loudly into it. "John?!" she said, receiving no answer. "John, can you hear me? JOHN!"

She threw the communicator down and shook her head fervently. "Something's going wrong in there," she said quietly. "I can't just stand by and --"

She let out a huff of breath, not even looking back at Warren, as she stormed out of the jet, running off and following the others' footprints for what felt like ages, until she reached what appeared to be a flaming fortress. 'What the --"

"You had your chance."

Taryn wheeled around and looked up, seeing Drop Force, standing with his arms crossed, a cruel smirk on his face. Taryn felt herself being raised into the air, despite any attempts she made to bring herself back down. The man in front of her merely smiled wanly. He'd trapped the rest of the team inside, and he was holding her back from reaching them. She was going to fail her friends, all because she hadn't come sooner --

"You can't beat me."

"Watch me," she growled, focusing her powers sharply and causing a wall of gravitational pressure to close in on him from all sides, so quickly that within seconds, all that was left of him was a bloodstained crater in the snow. She landed back on the ground and turned on her heel to run into the maze of desolation when she found herself standing in front of a woman with an angular face, harsh eyes, and wild red hair.

"Jean?"

"You're a powerful creature," she said in a distant voice, shutting her eyes and focusing mildly as Taryn felt a presence enter her mind. "And now, I'm going to give you the on thing you want. A new life."

Taryn's mouth opened silently, attempting to responds, but finding no combination of words appropriate. The Phoenix merely continued speaking.

"Everything you know, everything you cease before you, will cease to exist," she said, reaching out and placing a hand on Taryn's head. "The life you desire will be yours."

Taryn suddenly felt a sharp sense of being tugged away from the world, being erased from one reality and written into another one.

Meanwhile, eighteen-year-old Taryn Lawson awoke in her warm four-poster bed in her parents' house, swiping at the alarm clock and rolling out from under the covers.

* * *

_A/N-_ Aren't alternate realities fun? Hee! Sorry I haven't been updating lately -- I'm now engaged, AND a college student, so life is quite a bit busy. But I'm trying to get updates on all my stories! Anyway, just to clarify, the next couple chapters are going to be in an alternate reality. No mutants, no Xavier's School -- Taryn gets everything she thinks she wanted. Wonder if it's all she had it built up to be? Stay tuned!


End file.
